Valysha be staring at my new iron guild tag and the happy dippity look on my face. Chuckled as she shook her head, “Congratulations.”

“Hehe, thanks.”

“As a Rank E, your credibility has now met the standard of that of an adventurer and the disparity between your party members is now balanced. You sure you don’t want to just take another quest instead?”

“Nope. I have to meet Hill Vines as soon as possible.”

She reaches out under the table for a copy of the Quest that my party took, “Rank D Quest, a rescue mission on the eastern part of the forest. Rank E teams have taken a quest for a goblin subjugation but they have yet to come back, and the team we sent ended up not returning either…”

(… We’ll prepare you a cart for transport and a small team to help, just in case. Please, bring them back safe)

Looking at the paper as I’m sitting on the back of the cart with the ‘Team’ she assigns to me. Three people. A male cleric, a female archer, and a female warrior. With the exception of the warrior being so bulky and full of muscles, they seem to be new to adventuring.

“M-Miss April.”

Glancing at the archer who called out to me, “Yes?”

“I'm sure we haven’t introduced ourselves yet. My name is Tanya, this is Aegghan, and this guy is umm… what was it again?”

“Dorian.”

“Right, that is so hard to remember.”

[April]: Good to meet you guys. We gotta work together so we can be of any help.

[Tanya]: Likewise, and of course, that’s what intend to do. Right, Aegghan?

[Aegghan]: Hrmm, just know that if you slow me down, you won’t be of any help at all.

[Tanya]: Now, now.

[Siola]: How long have you guys been together?

[Tanya]: Eh? Ahh, me and Aegghan have been in a party before adventuring, so I think it’s about 8 months now. As for him, we just met about three days ago. He saved our poor Aegghan from bleeding out.

[Siola]: Heeh, a reliable healer then.

[Dorian]: I can also fight if need be.

[Siola]: That’s great.

Of course, you can. Just by looking at how you look and how your voice doesn’t match it, already confirmed what I needed to know about you. More importantly though, the muscles on that lady are something else. On top of having big tits, she got them big shoulders and arms. Must be pumping some iron quite regularly. And she’s tall.

‘Hmm, after getting beat up by a strong woman, think I might have grown some hoophaa to these things. I wonder how it feels to touch them. And her scent! I wonder what she smells like.’

Fantasizing on the way makes the journey to the destination feel so fast. We’ve arrived in the eastern part of the Great Forest of Sylph. While the cart waits for us outside, all four of us entered with our weapons in hand.

[Aegghan]: Why a squishy mage on the front?

[Siola]: Well, miss Tanya does not have tracking experience nor do we have someone that can scout properly either. All we have is an amateur mage who knows a thing about arcane. Still, we gotta make do with what we have, right?

[Aegghan]: Hrrmph.

Trail of mana being used. Hill Vines consisted of four people. Piercer, a human Warrior, and a spear user. Misty Fang, a beastman Rogue. Six Sense, a dark elf Assassin. Horgan, a dwarf and a Druid. And Kian, a young human Priest.

Probably Horgan, he has a spell that can transport people using vines.

“Through here.”

This E-rank party is following me like they are supposed to, which makes it easier for me. The mana trails ended at scattered corpses of wolves, Aegghan then muttered, “There’s been a battle here.”

“Hm, come, we’ll make haste.”

Running in the direction of disturbed leaves, we entered an empty grass field. I found a shield but no one in my party uses one. I can see the particles. It’s getting stronger around here. My eyes widened at the sight of many bottles of potions being used. I hurried over to check.

“Mage, look out! A mandrake!”

Like a trap, it was waiting for me to step on its trigger. The thing pulled itself out of the ground and quickly gasps the air preparing for a shout. It’ll quickly become charcoal when my staff pointed at it, “Firebolt.”

*Boom*

And it did become one.

Tanya hastily walks up to me, “Miss April!”

“Shh.”

Looking at the color of the liquid inside the bottles, they were blue, and these bottles were the same ones I usually gave to Horgan and Kian. Did they fall to the cliff because of Mandrake? If that were to happen, then they can’t be saved. But then again, the arcane particles went down.

“Goodness, I thought they were going on a light mission.”

“What now?” asked Tanya.

“Go back and guard the cart.”

Stepping towards the cliff, I jumped down, but then suddenly, Aegghan yelled, “Mage, I’m coming with you!” as she jumped and pierced the side of the wall with her axes, sliding down. The both of us went down smoothly with Aegghan rolling as she landed and me propelling myself at the last second with [Telekinesis], I admit, it wasn’t as bad as I thought when I got it at level 1.

There’s flowing water on the side, ‘No, they won’t go down as stupidly as that.’

Running as we observed the surrounding, there was no distortion to the Arcane Particles down here but I saw 4 green kids appearing from a cave. Goblins. They noticed our presence.

“Squishy mage. Leave this to me.”

Aegghan launched herself in the air and threw one of her axes with such incredible power and speed that it cuts through the upper body of the goblin. The impact follows with herself stomping a goblin’s head. One was swinging its weapon at her but its forearm was cut by the axe as it goes through its neck. The last one was frozen in fear and even dropped its weapon. Aegghan narrowed her eyes down and ignores the thing. I joined her after burning it to a crisp with a [Firebolt].

“They must be here,” I said, but noticed that Aegghan stopped following me to look back, ‘Hm, is she worried about us being ambushed? Guess her instinct as a warrior is legit. I can only do a summon for a minute, and I’d like to save my mana for emergencies’ so anyway, I reassure her, “Hey, don’t worry. I got your back. Come.”

We stay close together as we went deeper into the cave. There were more goblins, they seem to be running away from something. Not that it stops us from killing them. They might offer me little experience points, but they are exp nonetheless. I made sure that I got the last hit on every single one of them this time.

As the both of us went deeper, the distortion of arcane particles can be seen. There were traces of roots all over. Hiding behind a large boulder, my heart beat as I formed a smile.

“You guys!”

A wounded dwarf and fainted human child. With his mouth coughing blood, “April?”

Horgan and Kian, Hill Vines party members. I made 5 balls of light and connected them to one another to create a healing area.

[Heal Array]

“Goodness, what happened to you both?!” I asked as I use [Healing Hands] to heal Kian’s wound. Nothing major, probably fainted from getting pounded.

“There’s no time. You’ll have to save the others.”

“Uhuh, and where are they? How did you end up here?”

“They went ahead,” holding the pain as his flesh is healing, “Grrhk, haa… haa… I believe it was a demon. He controlled the goblins and toyed with us. We didn’t manage to rescue the captives so we ran. But that thing managed to find us, so April, please!”

“D-Demon, you say?!”

“If it’s you, I know it’s possible. I know you can do it. Please, save them.”

Holding his hand with a troubled expression on my face. I made a decision, “Aegghan, stay here and be on guard. That demon,” cracking my knuckles, “Will pay for this!”

***

Seeing April flailing her arms as she ran into the darkness, made Aegghan frown her brows, “Squishy mage… think she’s gonna be okay?”

“Heh,” adjusting his shoulder joint, the bearded dwarf said, “Kid got the stamina to joke around in a situation like this. Trust me, ain’t nothing a Master-ranked mage can’t do.”

*Clink *Clank *Slash *Slice

Sounded a blade clashing against an armor. No matter if it’s a spear trying to puncture it, or daggers trying to cut it, the dark armor worn by the humanoid winged creature remains undamaged. Panting as fear started to seeping in.

Sweat dripped from the cheek of a dark-skinned woman with pointy ears.

[Six Sense | Lv. 64]

Gripping his spear as tightly as he can, his eyes still shine through the shade of his steel helmet.

[Piercer | Lv. 78]

Tail swinging, the cat's eyes widened as he began to ready his stance. In the palm of his left hand is a dark blue gem tied to a necklace.

[Misty Fang | Lv. 70]

“Bwahahaha, is this really all you insects can do?” shaped like a human but its face is more like a mix between an owl and a crocodile, “I’ve been waiting for so long. Killing travelers over and over and over and over makes this life dull. And then you appeared. The demon king has truly blessed me this time. Now, why don’t you entert—.”

“Assassinate!”

At an extremely fast speed, a slash of lethal daggers attack aimed at the monster’s neck but just as fast, his wing threw the attackers away. Hitting her jaw.

*Crack*

*BOOOOM*

Piercer’s eyes widened, “SIX!!!”

“Heheh, frail as I remember it being. This sensation coming from your kind is truly unbeatable. No matter how many times I experience it.”

“YOU BASTARD!”

Seeing his teammate charged alone, “Piercer, NO!”

“Hrrrraaaaaaaaaaaah!” he holds his steps and twists them. Swirling powerful winds as red aura seething through his body, “Mirror Spike.”

Clones of himself with the same stance surrounding the enemy.

“Hoh, interesting skill. Is it magic?”

Widening his eyes enraged, all of the clones took a step, “Power Strike!” swinging all their weapons at the same time with enhanced power.

*CRASH*

But the impact only shattered the spear's blade as all of the clones disappeared. The real Piercer is still at the same location where he was, but the enemy did not suffer any damage from the attack.

“What. A. Shame.”

Grunting, “Grkh.”

“I suppose this is the end for you. Goodbye, human.”

His eyes widened.

“Greater Wall of Storm.”

Crackling of shock and electricity sunder as it clashes with one another beneath them. Trails of extremely thin lightning pass through Piercer’s field of vision. Lighted his vision.

“Hey, you’re okay, captain?” he sees Kian smiling widely under the sun, “Ehe, the others already started,” and the other members of Hill Vines, all dancing hand in hand in the middle of a grass field waiting for the boar meat to be cooked.

The joy and laughter brought tears to his eyes as he formed a smile. When it dripped to his cheeks, the clacking thunder burst through, decimating everything in that spot.

But that demon noticed something odd, the sensation of him attacking an enemy felt different somehow. As if he was hitting an air. When the storm he creates has stopped disorienting his vision, he sees the human that was supposed to be electrocuted has managed to escape. Fainted, he was carried by the shoulder of his kind. Her ring shines.

“My goodness, that’s a demon alright.”

{April | Lv. E--/r}