Chapter 10 – Dog Eat Dog World

"Sabrinaaaaa! How could you suggest something like that, after I just tried to hit him over my misunderstanding?! He must think I'm crazy or something! Saying I should take him on a date after almost hitting him…"

I crawled onto my bed, buried my face in a pillow and covered myself with a blanket, hiding my ashamed self away from the world.

"You goddamn crazy drunk woman."

"Hahaha!"

Sabrina merely laughed at the curses I threw her way, as usual. She liked to tease and lightly bully people even under normal circumstances, but whenever she drank, her teasing and bullying became much more aggressive and pronounced.

"You said you wanted to somehow apologize to him, so I gave you an idea. Also, he was the one to suggest lightening it from an entire date to just a dinner together."

"Isn't that a whole date already anyway?!"

I protested.

"Does it really matter? He definitely didn't seem to be opposed to the idea of getting to know you, seeing how he brought up the dinner himself. Who knows? Maybe you two really will click and your dreams of proper romance and bliss will finally bloom, hmm?"

Sabrina poked me over the blankets. I responded by curling up in a ball and draping the blankets over me with more strength than before.

"Don't tease my lady too much, else she melts."

Said Testa, in an attempt to shield me from Sabrina's verbal jabs.

"Alright, alright, my bad. It's just, I've never seen her shy and embarrassed before, y'know? It made me want to see more of it. It's cute."

"I have to agree with you there, my lady certainly acts cute when she's embarrassed."

Now both of them were driving a stake of shame deeper into my heart unintentionally. Or perhaps intentionally, I wouldn't know. I screamed into the pillow, hoping to drown out their chatter.

"And he is obviously quite strong as well. He evaded Syndra's attacks, after all. Even if she wasn't giving it her all, evading her attacks should be nearly impossible for most people our age."

Said Sabrina.

Come to think of it, I really didn't manage to land a single hit. It is true I wasn't going all out, but I wasn't holding back enough to let someone avoid my strikes so seamlessly while talking.

"If Syndra and Astoshan really do decide to get together, it might also help us with the whole Zika situation, get him to back off because she's already taken and stuff."

Sabrina continued to raise pros as to why it would be a good thing if I decided to pursue a relationship with him, but I felt like she was starting to disregard my and his feelings about the situation.

I pulled the sheets off me and sat on the corner of the bed.

"While I certainly find him attractive, we can't forget about whether he himself will want to pursue something deeper."

Interrupting Sabrina, I continued.

"And even if he does, I absolutely don't plan on doing so, as long as the whole Zika situation is not resolved. If Zika found out I'm with someone, I fear he might try to silently remove the person I'm with. I refuse to put him in unnecessary danger like that."

I said resolutely. As long as my father hasn't gotten Zika off my back, I cannot risk putting others in danger. If something did happen to Astoshan because of Zika's jealousy, I wouldn't be able to live with myself.

"I believe you're overthinking it, Astoshan doesn't seem like the type to let others do with him whatever they want. After all, he stomped and broke Bazra's leg without hesitation and he evaded all your attacks earlier."

Said Testa. Sure, he did avoid all of my attacks, but I doubt he'd be able run from the entire Sinclair family.

"Well, let's not put the cart before the horse. We don't know yet if he'll want to go for something more."

I said, hoping to put an end to this conversation.

"True. I wonder what kind of face you'll have once you come back from that date though– I mean dinner."

Said Sabrina with a grin.

"If she even returns that night."

Added Testa, looking like an enlightened person.

Having no more mental strength to continue arguing with them, I let them experience how it feels when someone with nearly 600 STR throws a pillow at their face.

○○○

I woke up the next morning, feeling refreshed. Despite the rowdy encounters of yesterday, I looked forward to seeing a certain someone again. It's crazy how fast the human psyche is capable of forming a crush.

'Fuck me.'

I sighed and ran my hand over my face. I've now got a crush. After years of not feeling even a twinge of romantic attraction to women ever since my last relationship, I developed a crush in a matter of minutes, from a single interaction. What. The. Fuck.

"Whatever."

I rolled out of bed, deciding to ignore whatever feelings were starting to grow in me. Worrying about something like this wasn't worth it, especially if we're going to leave for Knigh after advancing to C-rank. Crushes come and go, no biggie. I'd just be a little sad for a while. Wouldn't be the first time.

Merlin was still sleeping like a log despite the rays of sunshine peeking in through the blinds. I woke him up, we got dressed and headed down to the inn's in-built restaurant. Walking into the dining area, I spotted a trio of familiar women.

"Morning, girls. Mind if we sit with you?"

I greeted Syndra, Testa and Sabrina. They quickly acquiesced, finding no problems with it.

"Sure! Come, sit here!"

Syndra patted the empty chair next to her. Her ears and cheeks slightly reddened as her brain seemed to catch up with her actions, but she was in too far to go back on what she said.

"Thanks, I'll take you up on that offer. Oh, and this is Merlin, my friend and party member."

I sat down as I introduced Merlin.

"Nice to meet you three, or two I guess, since I'm already acquainted with Sabrina. I'm Merlin."

Merlin sat at the head of the table, between me and Sabrina. The first one to introduce herself was Syndra.

"Likewise, nice to meet you. I'm Syndra."

She nodded at Testa to continue with her own introduction.

"Testa."

Said, Testa. She stayed silent, making it evident she had no intention of speaking further. Woman of a few words indeed.

"Nice to see ya again. Who'd have thought we'd be meetin' like this, though. Haha."

Said Sabrina with a laugh. Yep, her formal way of speaking is nowhere to be seen. Both I and Merlin looked at her with a slightly confused expression. Syndra apparently took notice of that.

"The change from her proper lady-like demeanor to how she talks in private is quite the… stark difference."

"No kidding."

Replied Merlin.

We had a casual chat while we waited for our food, talking about our various adventures and experiences. Naturally, I and Merlin omitted the whole 'running away from Hosefelia because we're rogue summoned heroes' fact. I and Syndra agreed on having the dinner-cum-date tomorrow evening. Can't lie, I'm quite excited.

After breakfast we split up. The girls went shopping for some consumables while we went to the guild to grab a request. We needed only a few more guild points to be eligible for a rank up test to C-rank, so our hopes were to get that done by the end of the day.

○○○

We finished our quests without a hitch, gaining enough points to qualify for the rank up test. The quests in question were simple extermination requests.

One was for ogres. Tall, muscular green humanoid monsters. Limited intelligence, but they always move in small groups and have brutish strength. A sword to the heart or a sliced neck still worked on them as well as on humans, though. While they were more durable than the average human, they lacked the troll's ludicrous regeneration.

Another quest was for a monster called a leshy. Now, this monster I really like. They way it looks, I mean. A humanoid tree-like monsters. Their appearance was strikingly similar to the creepypasta version of the wendigo, though its bones and antlers were made out of incredibly tough wood, the flesh was very soft and squishy bark, and the skin was just weird, black-beige moss. They were also strictly nocturnal, so we had to wait for nightfall to fight them. During the day, they camouflaged themselves as parts of trees. We ran across one by accident when Merlin was using his [Analyze] to check for any useful herbs. Had it not been for that, we would have completely missed the sleeping leshy.

The last monster we had on our extermination list was a treant. Not much can be said about these. In appearance, they are nearly identical to dryads. The difference is dryads are sentient. Dryads also have a symbiotic relationship with their surroundings, whereas the treants are parasitic in nature. They suck up all the nutrients around them and are incredibly aggressive against non-plant life. They can move, but very slowly. Their usual means of attack includes lashing out with branches, vines and excreting acidic sap. I've got to say, fighting trees made for a unique experience.

Incidentally, all of these monsters are C-rank.

We scheduled our rank up test through the receptionist for the next day, as we had come quite late after finishing the extermination quests, courtesy of the leshys being nocturnal. Because of that, we hadn't seen the Syndra and the other two since breakfast, and we somehow managed to miss them during breakfast the next day as well.

"Please follow me. I'll lead you to your examiner. Please note that there is another party that is going to take the rank up test alongside you two."

"That's fine with us."

The form of the test depended on whether you were going to take the test in a party or as a solo adventurer. Solo adventurers would have a spar with a higher ranked adventurer, whom would be the examiner. If the examiner acknowledged your strength, you'd rank up. If the examiner thought you were too weak for the rank you were striving for, well, good luck next time.

If you were taking a test in a party, the examiner would take you out on a quest and score everyone individually AND collectively based on numerous factors, such as your efficiency in your role, decision making, planning and many more. Essentially, you had to show the examiner you could work in a group effectively, and that this group was an efficient machine capable of producing satisfactory results.

The receptionist led us behind the guild where a good-looking man with muddy blonde hair awaited next to a carriage.

"Astoshan, Merlin, this is Gilber, a B-rank adventurer who will act as your examiner for today."

Gilber looked at us and gave us a welcoming smile.

"Nice to meet you two. I heard you've finished all your quests with inhuman speed, so I have high hopes for you two."

"Haha, people love to exaggerate. I'm Astoshan."

"Name's Merlin. Nice to meet you, too."

We shook hands in greeting.

After introductions were over, the receptionist excused herself and went back to the guild hall.

"No time to waste, hop on the carriage. The other party is already waiting inside, so get acquainted with each other while we're on the road. You'll be taking this test together, after all."

Gilber pointed at the carriage. We went to the back while Gilber climbed onto the driver's seat. When I got to the back of the carriage, however, I couldn't help but laugh. Merlin also let out an amused chuckle after he saw who the other party was that'd be taking the test alongside us.

"Morning, girls."

I greeted Syndra, Testa and Sabrina, who were looking at me with surprised faces. After a short moment, Syndra chuckled lightly, Testa merely shrugged, and Sabrina was striking a victory pose.

"Hehe. Morning to you too, boys."

"Ahahaha, ain't no way! Syndra, I won the bet!"

"What did you bet on?"

I inquired as I naturally sat next to Syndra after climbing on.

"Whether the party to join us on the rank up test would be you guys or someone else. Sabrina betted for, so I better against."

Explained Syndra with a sad smile on her face.

"And what were you betting with?"

"If I won, I'd be allowed to keep the events of our dinner to myself without them pestering me to tell them about it."

That info is very much useless now that Syndra's lost, though.

"And if Sabrina won?"

Syndra's sad smile somehow became even sadder.

"She gets to choose my outfit for the date."

"Ooooh."

Yep. I can see how that might make one have a sad smile on their face. It can go horribly wrong because Sabrina enjoys making others suffer, or because she might have horrible fashion sense, or horribly wrong from a mix of both scenarios.

"Hey, that's rude! I'll have you know my fashion sense is second to none when it comes to pretty dresses. Worry not, Astoshan, I'll have our leader all dolled up for your date!"

Protested Sabrina, thought she didn't come off as very charismatic.

We both stared at Sabrina as if she'd said something incomprehensible. From what I know of Merlin, his fashion sense is even worse than mine. If Sabrina really is like him, I can't imagine that going well.

'Sera, I'm asking just in case, but… do you, by any chance, have Syndra's measurements?'

'Great, let's quickly skim through a clothing shop once we're back and find a dress that would fit her, as an emergency precaution.'

I decided not to pursue how or why she had her measurements, though.

Gilber shouted at us from the front that we were departing shortly after we all settled to a comfortable position. The carriage shook with a start on the cobble road and we set off for the test destination, a forest 20 minute ride away from Thormia.

"The test is going to be to clear out an orc camp, right?"

Asked Merlin to kickstart the conversation. As he said, our goal was to eradicate a newly formed orc camp. Orcs in this world were the human-like ones, with greenish-brown skin and muscular bodies.

"That's right. What, getting' cold feet, mage boy?"

Sabrina didn't forget to throw in a challenging remark, true to her teasing personality. From the grin on her face and her languid demeanor, it was obvious she was only playing around and didn't mean any actual harm. Though, knowing Merlin, he's definitely going to try and shoot back.

"Not at all, I was just wondering if I had any spells to soothe a terrified child. Can't have you dragging us down covered in snot and tears."

Yup, there it is.

"Like children."

I shook my head in exasperation. Syndra giggled lightly next to me and scooted closer, close enough for our shoulders to be touching.

"But it's nice to see they get along, no?"

"I wouldn't call it getting along, but they certainly seem to have hit it off well."

I gazed at the bickering pair with amusement. Testa pulled a bag of popcorn out of somewhere and started eating it while watching Merlin and Sabrina trade insults and rude remarks.

"I've been meaning to ask, does Testa always have a bunch of popco- I mean heated corn on hand?"

"Yes. Whenever there's an amusing or interesting situation unfolding in front of her, she pulls it out of somewhere. Frankly, I'm also lost on where she carries it. I've tried asking her, but she just smiles and acts as if she hadn't heard the question."

"Seriously?"

Syndra nodded with a solemn look.

Time passed quickly as the conversations flowed smoothly between us, and we found ourselves at our destination before long. We'd have to trek another 30 or so minutes to reach the orc camp proper, though.

Merlin came up to me, saying he had some important stuff to discuss, and we distanced ourselves from the rest of the group slightly.

"What tea do you have to spill that we have to be secretive like this?"

Merlin did one last quick scan of our surroundings before beginning in a whisper.

"Well, the first has to do with your girlfriend and her party."

"Not my girlfriend."

I interrupted him.

'At least not yet.'

He rolled his eyes and continued.

"Sure, whatever you say. Anyway, I decided to take a peek at their statuses. Syndra's class is Sword Saint and has a [Legendary] rating. Testa's is also [Legendary], some class called Promised Knight. Sabrina's class is only [Epic], but it's one I haven't heard about before, a class called Oracle."

My mouth hung open upon hearing Merlin's findings.

'Weren't [Legendary] classes exceedingly rare, something like 1 in 5 000 000, according to princess Alicia? And [Epic] classes are also hyper rare, 1 in 10 000 if my memory serves me right?'

Sera chimed in with her usual confirmation or correction of my thoughts. Man, it feels good to have a personal Siri everywhere you go in your head.

"Dear God."

I said in disbelief.

"There's more."

"No!"

Merlin looked at me in confusion and shook his head at my out of character answer. Tsk, guess he didn't get the reference.

"Anyway, Syndra's surname is Blackhardt."

"Wouldn't that mean that she's…"

Merlin nodded.

"Yep, she's from one of the four ruling families of Brit."

I covered my face in my hands and sighed deeply. What are the chances that we'll run into an incognito member of one of the ruling families practically as soon as we arrive in Brit? For us, it'd seem the chances are nearly guaranteed.

"I smell trouble on the horizon."

"Yep."

Both I and Merlin looked blankly at each other. After a short while, Merlin coughed and continued speaking in a matter-of-fact tone.

"And there's one more problem."

"Hit me with it."

"There's like 20 people waiting on the path we're supposed to take to the orc camp."

My gaze naturally turned to the only completely unknown variable in this group, Gilber. It was also entirely possible the trouble was related to Syndra's circumstances, though my instincts were telling me the people up ahead were much better acquainted with Gilber.

"Ambush party?"

I asked sheepishly.

"Ambush party."

Merlin parroted my question as his answer. Either way, I was near certain the girls weren't the ones to order a group of people to ambush as enroute to our exam site, which meant we should probably inform them as well.

"I think we should tell the girls."

Merlin put his hand on his chin in thought.

"Agreed, but not now. I think it'd be better if we tell them closer to the ambush point. It'd look suspicious if we already knew about the people waiting a good 20-minute hike away from us."

That was a sound argument. Telling them now would make us look suspicious instead, since they didn't know about Merlin's [Map]. I nodded in agreement, and we returned to the group.

"Everyone ready?"

Gilber asked, seeming ever so slightly impatient.

'His acting skills are trash.'

Knowing what awaited us on our path, his impatient gestures all but solidified my theory that the ambush is somehow connected to him. The question was how, but I guess I'll get my answers to that question once we beat the shit out of them.

What? How am I so confident that we can win with such numerical disadvantage? Simply, my dear Watson. We've got two [Mythical] and two [Legendary] classes. High stats absolutely clown on enemy numbers. Unless they have at least five people on Gilber's level, we'll be fine.

After everyone voiced their affirmation that they were ready, we set out. It was around 10 in the morning right now, judging by how high the sun was. Occasional rays of light streaked in through to treetops down to the ground, illuminating the water particles that were evaporating from the moss-covered ground.

We continued through the thick of the forest, occasionally cutting down bushes and low-hanging branches as we weren't moving on an established path. The trees eventually turned from the regular European-like trees into these thick, dark brown pillars. They weren't much taller than the normal trees and they had no low-hanging branches, and it seemed these trees sucked up all the nutrients in the soil for themselves, allowing only moss and small shrubs to grow, so our walking speed greatly increased. Our visibility took a steep nosedive, though, as the crowns were much thicker and allowed only a fraction of the light through. Enough to keep visibility above the need of artificial light sources, but I wouldn't blame anyone if they thought the sun had already begun set.

Merlin tapped me on the shoulder to catch my attention.

"The ambush party seems to have scouts. They've split into two groups of ten, positioning themselves on the left and right of our estimated path."

"Or they have someone periodically sending them information."

My gaze shifted to Gilber. I didn't know how he was doing it, but with the existence of artifacts, it wasn't entirely out of the question. The guild had a means of communicating between the different branches nigh-instantly, after all.

"Guess it's about time we tell the girls."

"I'll leave it to you."

Merlin skillfully relegated the duty of being a messenger to me. Sighing, I walked up to Syndra without taking my eyes off Gilber. I lightly tapped her on the shoulder and pointed with my head to follow me when she turned around to look at me. We distanced ourselves from Gilber so he couldn't hear us.

"Merlin says there's an ambush waiting for us about 5 minutes of walking ahead. Around 20 people."

She looked confused at first, but upon seeing my serious face, she also entered serious mode and asked me in a hushed voice.

"Are you certain?"

I nodded solemnly.

"What do you plan to do?"

Oh, she actually trusts me right off the bat? I thought I'd have to make up some excuse about Merlin having a scouting skill. Well, it wouldn't exactly be a lie, but I digress.

"Fight, obviously. I don't like letting people walk away with their limbs intact after being hostile to me."

"Hehe, the encounter with Bazra certainly proved that."

I chuckled lightly at her mention of that event.

"What do you want me to do?"

Syndra asked inquisitively.

"Tell Testa and Sabrina to trust our commands once a fight breaks out. Or at least Merlin's. He's got better tactical acumen than I do."

'Though I'm not entirely hopeless myself.'

"Got it. I'll make sure to talk to them."

I smiled, glad she didn't pry or question how or why we knew about the ambush. Being trusted like this feels nice.

"Thanks, that'd help a lot. Do it quickly, though. We'll run into them in about 4 minutes at this pace."

Syndra ran off and talked to her party members. I smoothly made my way back to Merlin. A few minutes later, we found ourselves in a small valley. The mounds on the side weren't big enough to be called hills, but they still had an elevation of at least 5 meters higher than where we were standing.

"Let's take a short break to recover from the ride and constant walking. We want you to be in tip top shape to fight the orcs, after all."

Gilber flashed us a kindly smile.

"If they reach the orcs, that is."

An unknown voice came from behind a tree at the top of the right hill. Fallen branches cracked and a tall man walked out. Even with his muscular build, he was damn ugly. Bald spot at the top of his head, and what hair he had was greasy and messy, in a junkie way. A big, crooked nose with a big wart on it drew the most attention on his face, though his thick eyebrows weren't a sight to behold either. On his back hung a massive two-sided axe, similar to Bazra's. He had a very, and I mean very, hairy body; I would've mistaken him for a monkey if I saw him from a distance.

'That guy lost the genetic lottery, hard.'

The other 19 people waiting in ambush also made their presence known, surrounding us from all sides.

Syndra, Sabrina and Testa tensed up, but I and Merlin were calm. We were expecting this for a long while now, and even if they did manage to get the jump on us, I doubt they'd be able to take us down.

"That is true indeed. So, my pay?"

Gilber faced the man who spoke before, the apparent leader of this group. He motioned at someone behind him and Bazra walked out, holding a pouch of what I can only assume is the aforementioned payment.

"Oh, if it isn't Bazra! Look at you, setting up a welcome party for us! How kind of you."

I said sarcastically. The pieces were starting to fall into place. Bazra most likely has some sort of connection to this group's leader. They bribed Gilber to take us to a location where it'd be easy to stage an ambush after I humiliated him at the guild and deal with us quietly. Gilber would then return to the guild and report the whole incident with a few artistic edits. He'd probably report it as an ambush from bandits, that he fought hard to protect us weak D-rankers, but that against so many opponents, he couldn't possibly defend us all and we eventually fell to the bandits one by one. He decided it'd be better to book it and report the bandit attack than dying pointlessly.

At least that's what I'd do in his shoes.

Bazra stopped, looking at me with confusion.

Merlin continued the conversation, which prompted Bazra to start moving again.

"Are you wondering why we're not shaking in our boots after being surrounded and in a massive numerical disadvantage?"

"Hmph. Act brave all you want; you'll be begging for mercy soon enough."

Arrogant as ever, huh. He somewhat reminds me of that twat, Simon. I and Merlin merely smiled at his certainty that we'd be on the losing side today. Well, going by common sense, winning while outnumbered five to one would certainly be unimaginable. But only if common sense applied to us, too.

"Hello there, girlies. Didn't think you'd see me again here, eh?"

The slimy bastard that got flung out of the guild into wall after bothering Syndra spoke up, rubbing his hands and licking his lips greedily as he stared at the girls, Syndra specifically. My mouth twitched at that, and I made a mental note to make sure that fucker doesn't die in the mayhem that is certain to ensue shortly. He's going to experience a special torture course post-fight.

Syndra looked at him with disdain and clicked her tongue. I ran my gaze over everyone present, and the only people that could prove to be a threat are Gilber and the ambush party's leader.

"Syndra, Sabrina, Testa. Once the fighting starts, leave Gilber and the troll-like guy to me and Merlin. I need you to take out the small fries, Bazra included."

"Leave it to us."

"Gotcha."

"Mm."

The girls agreed to my request without protest. I was glad they were willing to put so much trust in us despite the short time we've known each other.

"But… are you really be able to win against them? Gilber is a B-rank adventurer, and the ugly bastard doesn't look weak either."

Syndra asked hesitantly. I could understand her worries. She knows I'm strong, just not how strong exactly. It's natural to be worried about the unknown.

"Not a problem."

I held no such worries, however, as Merlin would've informed me if the situation was hopeless. It wouldn't hurt if he shared the info from their status windows, though. With that thought in mind, I whispered to him.

"Anything I should take note of?"

"Gilber's class is called Fencer, an [Epic] class. The ugly guy is called Martinos, and his class is Berserker. He's also higher level than Gilber, so we'll need to be extra careful."

"So, I should leave him for last, got it."

Not all classes gave you a skill passively. Classes mostly determined your stat distribution and types of unique skills, if you had any. A few classes, however, gave you a skill just by having them. Berserker was one such class, and I believe Syndra's Sword Saint is also one.

Berserkers have a nasty passive skill that increases their STR stat in proportion to how low their HP percentage is. Basically, the closer they are to death, the stronger they get. Because of that, people either try to get rid of Berserkers right away in a single attack or spam them with debuff spells and leave them for last.

I was confident in winning against Martinos, but whether I could get rid of him in a single attack was dubious at best.

"Merlin, try to harass Martinos while I deal with Gilber. If you find a room to help the girls get rid of the grunts, go for it. Oh, but try to keep the slimy guy that was ogling Syndra alive."

"Got it, boss."

I nodded at Merlin's reply. It's nice to have someone who understands your thoughts without explaining them by your side. Without warning, I unsheathed my sword and struck at Gilber, who was counting the money in the pouch he received from Bazra.

"Whoa!"

Not expecting my attack, he was half a beat late to react to my sword that came from below, slicing through the pouch along with his left hand.

"Kill the men! Keep the women alive if you want to have some fun later!"

Martinos gripped his battle axe as he ordered his men. Bazra reached for his own battle axe, but before he touched the hilt my foot had already come into contact with his stomach. He let out a pained grunt and flew far away from my kick.

Boom! Creak. Thud.

A loud explosion echoed from behind me, followed by branches snapping and falling to the ground. Merlin most likely used some fire magic to snap off some of the branches and crush the bandits with them.

"Aaah! No! Save me!"

"Noo! I don't want to die!"

Screams resounded in the valley as the thick branches mercilessly fell to the ground. The trees surrounding us were at least 40 meters tall, and the branches were about as thick as my torso. I don't know about you, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to experience getting crushed by branches as thick as logs.

With Bazra gone, I lunged at Gilber, intent on getting rid of him as fast as possible. This time, however, my strike was properly deflected by his sabre.

"Hmph! Your strikes hold strength, but I am still a B-rank adventurer, while you are a mere D-rank. Stop struggling and die! I'll at least do you the honors of sending you off painlessly!"

Gilber deflected, parried and evaded all my subsequent attacks all the while dashing out counterattacks, giving me a few scratches here and there. Our stats should be around the same, so me getting pushed back is solely due to my lacking swordsmanship skills. The system did provide an intuitive correction, but by and large, the corrections were useless, as the intuitive help boiled down to 'don't get hit by that' or 'attack here.' Anybody with a high enough battle sense could figure those things out.

I enveloped my sword in aura and aimed for Gilber's sword instead. I was too close to him, leaving him no room to dodge, forcing him into a position where he had to block my strike.

"Ugh!"

With the sudden force added from aura, I managed to momentarily stagger him. I quickly used [Haste] along with Slash in an attempt to catch him off guard and get a proper hit in.

His fighting style revolved around baiting his opponent in and striking them with counterattacks, while my fighting style was very aggressive and domineering. Gilber's was far more based on technique, while mine made full use of my ridiculous stats with little to no regard for my technique. I knew I wouldn't magically awaken to some long-lost ancient swordsmanship, so I pushed him with the only thing I could overwhelm him with. My skills and stats.

The reason why I wasn't using the glaive on my back and instead attacked Gilber with a sword is because I have the same fighting style when using the glaive as Gilber with his sabre. Bait and counterattack, a style heavily focused on technique. However, there is no way my technique would be better than Gilber's, someone who's been an adventurer for years and has most likely fought countless people with this fighting style, which is why I opted to disregard the glaive against a nimble opponent like Gilber.

Gilber was too late to react to my sudden increased in speed and I cut off his sword wielding arm at the elbow.

"Aaaaaaaaagh!"

Gilber cried out in pain. I did a follow up attack from above, to which Gilber didn't even react as he clutched his severed arm.

"How could this…"

My sword cleaved him open from the shoulder down to his chest. Blood sprayed from the wound, and he listlessly fell to the ground with a thud. The life of a B-rank adventurer come to an end just like that.

I turned around just in time to see Martinos, the ugly leader, lunging at me with his war axe. I jumped backwards, evading Martinos' attack.

"Slippery brat. I'll tear you apart."

His war axe shined, releasing an ominous glow. I momentarily lost the ability to move my body and Martinos launched another attack at my neck. Milliseconds before Martinos sliced my head off, I regained control of my body and ducked, escaping the fate where I had my head sliced clean off.

"You managed to dodge that?!"

Martinos' face twisted, wearing his anger on his sleeve.

'What the hell just happened?!'

The best conclusion I could come to was that his war axe had the ability to momentarily freeze the people around Martinos, but I should be immune to all negative status effects. This meant the war axe wasn't affecting me directly.

'I'll need to be wary of it.'

I had no clue what its actual ability was, so it was better to wait for Merlin to finish eradicating the pests than to fight Martinos by myself. I had the lifeline in the form of [Rewind], but I don't want to rely on an ability that activates only in situations where I'd die otherwise. It's best to learn how to fight without it.

I sighed and prepared for a game of cat and mouse. Unfortunately for me, the cat had the ability to momentarily paralyze me through unknown means.

○○○

As soon as Astoshan attacked Gilber, I raised walls of stone between Martinos and Astoshan. They wouldn't hold him back for long, but every second counted with enemies like these.

Syndra and Testa plunged themselves into the front lines with the enemies coming from above us, while Sabrina cast enhancement magic from behind them. I scanned our surroundings, quickly formulating a way on how to eliminate a large amount of the people above us with one spell.

I raised my hand and prepared for a lengthy casting time. A red magic circle appeared in front of my raised hand, sucking up mana from me. After about 20 seconds, the circle collected enough mana and the spell, fourth tier Fireball, was ready.

"Fireball."

A massive ball of fire flew from within the magic circle high into the air. It struck right at the top of a tree, breaking off large branches that fell and crushed at least six people in one go. Syndra and Testa easily dispatched the remaining three, completely eradicating the enemy presence behind us.

Crumble.

The last stone wall crumbled and Martinos shot from within like a bullet, heading straight for Astoshan, who had just put an end to Gilber. That was an incredibly bad decision on his part, as I'd now be allowed to run amok with his remaining subordinates.

"Testa, stay here and protect Merlin and Sabrina! Sabrina, cast spells whenever you can to draw their attention away from me! Merlin you…"

Syndra, who had been issuing orders to her party members, looked at the burning logs that crushed two thirds of the enemies behind us in one fell swoop.

"You continued what you've been doing so far."

She then broke into a sprint and circled the enemies from our right. Astoshan lured Gilber, and now Martinos, to our left, so the enemy now had a severely weakened right side. The enemies that appeared behind us had been dealt with already, so we could now safely carry out the pincer attacks Syndra was most likely aiming for.

Bazra, who had been struck by Astoshan and flew a good 15 meters away groggily raised himself from the ground after crashing into a tree. He took a potion out of his pouch and greedily gulped it down.

Martinos' remaining henchmen poured out from the hole Martinos left behind in the stone wall. Testa blocked their advance, but she'd soon be overwhelmed against so many people.

"Lightning arrow."

I helped her out a little by bombarding the enemies she didn't manage to hold back properly with magic. Sabrina also joined in on the bombardment, pestering the enemies with arrows made of fire and darkness.

"Crush that bitch already, you useless bastards! You're nine people getting pushed back by a single, short girl!"

Bazra yelled and cursed the people that were fighting against Testa but still unable to break through.

'If only he knew her and Syndra have a [Legendary] class, he'd quickly change his tune.'

I aimed my next spell at Bazra, but he easily swatted it away with his axe. He then raised his axe high, and it shone in a bright light, forcing me to close my eyes.

"Now! Get rid of her!"

Blinded, Testa found herself under ferocious assault. She wildly swung her sword around, in an attempt to scare the enemies from approaching.

"Green Armor!"

Sabrina hastily cast a protective spell on Testa and a green light swiftly enveloped her, shielding her from potential damage. I started casting higher tier spells to force them to move away from Testa and give her time to recover her sight. Sensing that we were about to recover, Bazra raised his axe high into the air again.

"Oh no you don't!"

Before he could activate the axe's light ability again, however, Syndra leapt out from behind a tree and attacked Bazra. A golden-blue aura enveloped her sword, like the light reflected on a lake's surface before the sun begins to set.

Bazra was pushed back at first as they exchanged blows. Being driven into a corner, he enveloped his axe with dark red aura, but it didn't help him one bit. His class was Axe Warrior, a mere [Rare] class. He never stood a chance against a [Legendary] class, even if his level was slightly higher.

He was quickly overwhelmed and Syndra managed to strike the axe out of his hands. With practiced movements, she drove her sword into his heart, killing him. Seeing this, his allies had their morale drop significantly. I and Sabrina made use of that and landed a few powerful spells right on target, quickly halving the enemy's fighting force from nine to five.

Testa, who had finally recovered her sight enough to at least recognize shapes and shades, slashed at the enemies nearest to her.

"Ah, right, Astoshan said he wants the slimy bastard alive, so just beat the shit out of him."

Syndra cocked her head to the side in confusion, whereas Sabrina responded with an evil smile of understanding. Testa had no reaction, as usual. She merely continued to slash at the closest enemy to her with uncanny force for such a small body.

We pushed on our momentum and quickly finished off the remaining enemies. I used Stun, a third tier lightning spell, to knock the slimy bastard out of commission. He begged us to spare him, but that was up to Astoshan, not me. And from what I know about Astoshan, this bastard will be begging for death soon enough. As much as he calls me sadistic and evil, I know for a fact that when Astoshan wants to be petty and cruel and vengeful, I don't come anywhere close to what he's capable of cooking up.

I checked the slimy bastard with [Appraisal], making sure he wasn't dead. I was about to speak to the girls when something crashed into the stone wall near us. Once the dust settled, the figure of Astoshan, bloodied and bruised, emerged.

"Astoshan!"

Syndra quickly broke into a sprint to check up on him. I checked him with [Appraisal] myself, and he wasn't in any mortal danger, at least not yet. The euphoric smile he wore on his face further added to my cause. He was clearly enjoying this.

'Should I start calling him a masochist?'

○○○

I crashed into a wall after evading death by a hair's breadth time and time again. Martinos would always use his axe's ability to freeze me before attempting to behead me or bisect me, but because I tried to kept my distance from him, I managed to break out of the freeze repeatedly without major injuries, albeit barely. Another thing I realized is that there is a cooldown, 60 seconds, to be exact, between the uses, and that the ability most likely drains his HP, as I felt his stats go up the longer we fought. I was about to lunge back into the melee when a shout brought me out of my battle-lust reverie.

"Astoshan!"

Syndra ran up to me with a terribly worried look on her face. At first, I was confused why she looked at me like that, and it was only after I looked down at my body that I realized I was covered in blood, cuts and bruises.

"I see you guys have managed to finish your side of the fight splendidly."

I flashed her a reassuring smile and seeing that I was still capable of cracking a joke, it seemed to have somewhat reassured her.

"Are you alright?"

"Yep. Barely feel any of the wounds and bruises. It's all mostly just surface wounds, it honestly looks worse than it actually is."

She patted her chest and sighed.

"That's a relief."

I locked my sight on Martinos, who stood at the end of the valley with a face contorted in pure wrath and hatred. His breathing was rough and he was drenched in sweat, though he had remained as unscathed as when we first clashed swords.

The others approached and Merlin cast a Heal on me, treating all the superficial cuts and bruises I had. He was confused why I was so battered up, so I simply told him to use [Analyze] on Martinos' axe. Merlin did so and his mouth hung agape in the process.

"That's a bullshit ability."

Merlin said with a scowl.

"It can freeze space around the user for a short duration in exchange for a percentage of his HP."

He further explained. As I though, that ability used his HP as the price needed to activate the ability, which proved my hunch, as I had felt his stats grow during the fight. I cracked my neck, which was stiff from the crash into the wall, and it made a loud cracking noise.

"Merlin, Syndra, you two are going to be in charge of damage. Testa will be the sub-tanker and Sabrina will support everyone with her buffs. Leave tanking to me, I may not have the most HP right now, but with his damage, completely evading the attacks is much more effective than getting hit."

Merlin saluted silently, while Syndra responded with a resolute nod.

"Let's get to it, then!"

I dashed at Martinos again as Merlin and Sabrina cast buff spells on me. I felt my body become lighter and newfound energy flowed through my limbs, making me feel like a speeding truck that cannot be stopped by anything. Martinos cast a fire spell at me, but the green light that surrounded me, Green Armor, effortlessly absorbed the damage, leaving me unscathed.

I used [Haste] to further increase my speed and used a martial attack, Slash, from above. Enhanced by [Aura] and multiple buff spells, my attack bore enormous power behind it. Martinos blocked with his war axe and a loud sound of metal colliding with metal resounded. Martinos' arms bulged with veins and muscle as he put more strength into the momentum of his swing and I was force to jump back.

'How fucking high is his STR to be able to push me enhanced with buffs back? By the stars.'

Martinos lunged at me, intent on not giving me any room to breathe. He swung his war axe from above and I, in my stance-broken state, was forced to block the attack head on. Our weapons collided once more, but my sword could no longer hold out and it shattered.

As Maritnos' axe was about to get lodged in my left shoulder, a ball of lightning blasted him away. I looked at my broken sword and discarded it, readying my glaive in the process.

"In Terra's name, another broken weapon? Fuck!"

I cursed, venting out my anger at my constant need to buy new weapons, but it is what it is. I just had to replace my sword after the troll fight, and now I need another one?! Ugh.

Syndra circled from my left, a golden-blue aura swirling around her sword. Martinos hastily blocked with his axe, but a spell came flying right at him. The axe glowed with an ominous light and everything around him, Syndra, the aura surrounding her sword, and the spell, all stopped.

Martinos moved out of the spell's way and slashed at Syndra. Testa was just in time and she parried his attack, pushing him back. I momentarily wondered where she stored all the power in her small body, but quickly dispersed those thoughts and attacked Martinos with my glaive. My glaive sunk deeply between his ribs, puncturing one of his lungs. Martinos coughed up blood, fear and dread covering his face.

"Shit! You damn brats!"

An arrow pierced his right shoulder, courtesy of Merlin's bow, and Syndra, now able to move again, sliced off Martinos' right arm along with his war axe. Testa joined in on the bullying, slicing through his left kneecap, throwing him off balance.

With an arm severed, a lung punctured and a leg dysfunctional, his defeat had been sealed.

Syndra and Testa moved away from Martinos as he dropped to one knee. I pulled the glaive out of his side, blood seeping out of the wound slowly.

"Guess our cat and mouse game has come to an end."

I said, resting the glaive over my shoulder.

"Shit! I'll rip your throat out!"

He lost his arm and leg and still thinks he can do something? Oh well, if he does have a hidden card, I better finish this off quickly.

"For killing my little brother, I'll-"

He couldn't finish his sentence as my glaive pierced his throat. He could only gurgle as the blood poured out of his throat and he choked on it. Before long, the light in his eyes faded and he dropped to the ground.

"Welp, that's that."

I said matter of factly.

"Merlin, did you keep that guy alive?"

I turned to Merlin, inquiring about the sleazebag that eyed Syndra. Merlin simply pointed behind him with his thumb finger. Following the direction, I saw the sleazebag lying on the ground, motionless, but alive.

"Merlin, can you tell me how many sleeping leshys are around us in a 500 meter radius?"

Merlin raised an eyebrow but complied. He quickly checked on his [Map] how many there were. To Syndra and the others, it must look like he's simply playing with empty air in front of him.

"Four."

Came his response shortly after I asked.

"And I remember you saying you found a concoction at the night market that the leshys are very attracted to, right?"

He nodded in confirmation and my mouth turned into a crescent shape smile, as my plan to make the sleazebag regret ever looking at Syndra was starting to take shape.

See, the thing about leshys is that while they are predators, they are mainly scavengers. They will eat the carcasses of deceased monsters and animals their killers didn't manage to devour. Or, when they find a paralyzed prey, they will eat it alive without bothering to kill it. Their saliva has clotting properties, so any wounds they make with their mouths quickly clot, denying their prey the mercy of bleeding out and dying.

The sleazebag unfortunately woke up after I started slicing his tendons in preparation for the leshys' banquet, so his screams and begs for mercy made the whole process somewhat uncomfortable, but soon enough, I had him nailed to a tree with no way to free himself, drenched in the leshy-attracting concoction. Come dusk, his night of hell will begin as he gets eaten alive by the monsters.

Is this going too far? Possibly. Do I care? Fuck no.

'You don't ogle the woman I like and face no consequences.'

The others collected any valuable items, like the war axes Bazra and Martinos used, and other useful items such as potions. We then left the forest and headed back to report Gilber's betrayal to the guild, the ambush and everything surrounding it.