CH 9

At the same time, the Hero Party who had expelled the young soldier Set were under attack by Demons.

The Hero Party were in a great deal of trouble because this situation happened right after they were about to go to bed, as tomorrow was to be an early day.

“Damn! There are too many of them!”

“We must divide up and destroy the enemy!”

There were now four people in the party.

Maclaine; a monk and Angelica; a magician, were in charge of rear support and interception.

Although they were inexperienced in actual combat, they were still highly skilled among the magicians.

“I can’t get the spell up on time! Someone distract the enemy away or else I would not be able to complete my magic at this rate!”

“I can’t do it, Angelica! We’ve got our hands full!”

One of the vanguards was Hydra, a young female martial artist who was an expert in continental martial arts and specialized in high-speed continuous combos with her sword.

Her speed was on par with that of the Hero Party, but her firepower was not as strong.

Despite her tremendous barrage of combos, the girl was struggling against the durability of the Demons.

The Hero named Reid was also unable to wield his full strength due to the huge number of forces from the Demons.

No matter how many times she slashed and slashed, she was overwhelmed by the momentum of the enemy who appeared beyond the corpses.

“Oh, my God!”

Maclaine was also being chased around by the Demons and was unable to deploy his techniques.

The party was completely outnumbered.

“We have to retreat!”

“But!”

“We’ll be wiped out if we don’t retreat! Someone, stall them and buy us some time!”

“We can’t hold them with such numbers!”

While they were arguing, the Demons were closing in on them.

The Demons were now in a good position to take advantage of the opportunity, and they turned their fierce fighting spirit and murderous intent on the party.

The party fled at full speed, leaving most of their belongings behind.

The destination of their escape, while dodging the pursuit of the Demons, was deep in a dark valley, illuminated by moonlight.

There was no greenery around them, and the world was filled with a rocky landscape as far as their eyes could see.

Animal bones could be seen here and there, and the howling of what appeared to be a predator echoed in the distance.

Darkness and a heavy atmosphere dominated the four of them.

“Hah …… hah …… Damn, I never thought I’d come to a place like this!”

The Hero Reid clicked his tongue.

All of them slumped down in place, exhausted.

All the hard work that had gone into getting here had gone down the drain.

Most of the luggage was left at that place.

The Demons must have ravaged the place by now.

They now had only the bare minimum of equipment.

The sense of exhaustion and this sense of hopelessness made the magician Angelica panic.

“Oh my God…… My God! What in the world! We’ve come this far and now we have to start all over again! I hate it!”

“Angelica, calm down!”

“Oh Angelica…… That’s right, we must not lose our composure.

Maclaine and Hydra tried to appease her, but her curses echoed.

“If you had done a better job of keeping the enemy at bay, none of this would have happened!　Yes, it’s your fault! Because of your mistake, not only was I humiliated, but I also lost my precious luggage!”

“Angelica, shut up for a minute……”

The girl was the daughter of an aristocrat and had a lot more pride than most people. Once she got angry, it would take her a long time to calm down.

And most importantly it was not a good time to panic.

Everyone in the party was shaken to the core.

If her cursing continued in this situation…….

“Shut up, I beg your pardon? Mr. Reid, this is your fault. Yes, it is! This is your fault!”

“Please calm down, this is not the time to argue!”

“How can you be calm about this?”

Angelica’s abuse continued unabated, and she even turned her fangs on Reid.

“Stop blaming Reid!”

“You’re just a commoner with a few martial arts skills. Then will you take responsibility for your own actions? How are you going to travel the world with your lousy martial arts skills?”

“… You. I don’t care if you blame me. But if you insult the inheritance of my martial arts that I have bet my life on, I will not forgive you even if you are a friend!”

Seeing that Hydra was about to draw her sword, Maclaine desperately stopped her and interceded between the two.

Both were in a state of excitement, and if things went on like this, they might end up killing each other rather than fighting.

The girls were cornered to such an extent.

“Stop it, you two! We are blessed just to be alive like this. Now let’s just think about surviving.”

Maclaine’s words made the two of them sullen, but they released their killing intent.

But at this point, Angelica asked Reid a question.

“Hey, Mr. Reid, why did you expel Set at that point in time?

“Set……?”

“That’s right, the party’s firepower decreased sharply after you kicked him out. Even in that battle just now, the situation would have been different if that young soldier had been present. I’ve never been this tired!”

“He’s useless. Set’s power isn’t for saving humanity. It’s just for killing people…”

“What are you talking about? Didn’t you ever think that in a fierce battle, that kind of power could come in handy?”

“Shut up! You all wanted to get rid of him, too!

“I wouldn’t have agreed to this if it was going to come to this!”

This time, the argument between the Hero Reid and the magician Angelica heated up.

They were almost penniless and had little food and water.

They were in a state of complete crisis and looked like a lone unit with no hope of rescue.

“Everyone, calm down! Arguing will not change anything! Let’s first cross the valley and find a settlement. We will regroup there.”

Angelica fell silent at Maclaine’s words, but turned her back on him grimly, glaring sharply at Reid.

Hydra also nodded her head as if her spirit had failed her.

“First, we need to rest. Then, when we need to search for a village.” 

Angelica opened her mouth again.

“If we’re going to…rest, who’s going to keep watch? Who’s to blame for the absence of that lowly person?”

“……! Okay, I’ll take care of it. You guys get some rest.”

The Hero Party were trapped in a state of extreme fatigue but if someone didn’t keep watch, they could be attacked again.

In this atmosphere, even if Reid offered to take over the watch, he was bound to be rejected.

Thus, he decided to stay awake and keep watch.

He had originally left this kind of thing to Set.

He would keep watch for two hours and then let Set do the rest.

I once had him do the sleepless watch.

“…… Damn it! How could this happen? I didn’t …… do anything wrong!”

While everyone else was sleeping, the Hero was sick in mind and poisoned by the darkness and eeriness that cloaked the valley.