“Will I have to kill more of them?” He asked with a soft tone, his head turned at the girl in her fluttering shirt. Remaining there as the words fell on her ears, the girl eventually twisted into a meek grin.

  “Of course. Not only that, if you don’t stop hesitating so much, you will get hurt even more,” she said without any indication of halting the harshness. “This one right here was just a starved one, and you will be fighting wolves much stronger than him.”

  “Huu,” releasing a breath as he had heard her clearly, Lutiel couldn’t help but stare away solemnly, keeping to himself as the thoughts ravaged his head. “I see. I guess you’re right, but it’s not easy for me to just stop hesitating,” he spoke out, making the girl attentive to his voice.

  “I know, we've been training for half a month already. I’m aware something is blocking you from doing it deep inside. And you can’t remember that, right?” Folvana asked, without showing the sternness during their usual sessions.

  The tongue brushed past his ears immediately, the man needing a few breaths of calm to linger around him. “No…” he prolonged with silence, promptly dropping his eyes at the ground. “I don’t remember.”

  “That’s fine. Though your case may be a bit more severe, I’ve met plenty of people like you in my division,” the soft voice regained his furrowed attention, Lutiel creasing his eyebrows at the words before slightly shaking the thoughts away.

  “Are you sure you can help me?” He asked before she slightly raised a brow. “I can feel myself getting stronger from our spars, however, what is the point in you relentlessly beating me? Even if it works, I can’t understand the reason,” the man’s somewhat confused face flashed across her eyes, making her chuckle momentarily.

  Grinning as she stopped quite briskly, her pearly teeth showed. “Don’t you get frustrated?” The question suddenly immured his face. “Whatever you do, I easily overcome it, doesn’t it infuriate you after the same happening days on end? Especially when each of your mistakes results in a painful sensation?”

  Pondering on the question, he finally nodded his head. “Yes. Although I didn’t think anything of it at first, I was even excited to learn more about the sword, I did start to think of ways to make you feel the same,” he explained, staring down at his opened palms before tightening them into fists.

  “It is very much a crude way to train someone, tortuous even, however, I don’t think you will be able to overcome it any other way,” she said, but the man still kept looking down.

  “Won’t explaining the thing ruin it? I know why you do it now, so I won’t garner such thoughts,” he said after finally raising his head, however, the lady simply smirked before turning to a blank mien anew.

  “Really? I hope you will keep that in mind when I increase the attacks again. Do you think twice the amount should suffice?” She asked, to which man peered with meekly squinted eyes.

  “I don’t believe you. You’ve increased the pace a few times already. It’s not possible for you to do it again-” he said briskly, only to be stopped by her tongue.

  “Just because you can’t doesn’t mean I can’t either. What do I have that you don’t?”

  “Magic,” uttering immediately as she asked, Lutiel fell into silence. “I should have guessed earlier,” muttering away, he kept staring at the forest floor, only to suddenly flinch. Feeling a slight hotness garner around his ankle and left forearm, he looked at them for a moment, not seeing anything trully.

  “Did you do something?” He asked the lady stepping closer to him.

  “I cleaned the wounds. Let’s get back,” she said whilst passing his figure already. However, the man remained there, making her stop and turn around. “What is it?”

  “We’re going already?” Asking before watching her eerie looks, Lutiel also put on contorted eyebrows.

  “Do you want to die or what? Have you not seen how much blood you’ve lost already? We’re going back to treat you,” she said, staring deeply into him before the man nodded his head.

  “Alright,” Lutiel mumbled, following right after the girl in the next breath.

  …

  “Haa, haa,” rough breaths fluttered through the space as the man grabbed himself by the arm, glancing down at the stream of red trickling down to his wrist. The chest heaved up and down uncontrollably, guided by the faint noises from the distance. Through a swift look ahead, the trunk dug into his back as he watched the events unfold in front of him.

  A stout man of dark complexion raised his shield faintly, easily blocking the hammer strike played out by an equally as large man with black, pebble-like dots protruding across his whole body. Feeling the strike be stifled out, Byrde swiftly pushed forward, making the demon with no horns stumble about.

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  No, the demon practically flew through the space, rolling around to the next oak before making its leaves fall down. At the same, the shield hero lowered himself, grasping the large hammer into his right hand before taking a large step forward with the left leg. Stumping down on it, his arm swung, making the weapon fly through the space while the lit mark on his hand started to dim out.

  A crashing thud reverberated through the space, the tree easily folding in on itself whilst crushing the demon stuck underneath, though, the hammer did most of the work in eviscerating his head.

  With ease of mind, his eyes fell on the next pair, on the right. Flickering within his eyes, the duo moved almost too quickly. Still, catching glimpses of the fight, he saw Daine move nimbly through the uneven, leafy terrain, bending and flowing with her body to evade the nippy slashes coming from the front.

  An orange-furred man of a shorter stature kept fuelling his attacks against the lady, however, she started to get too fast even for him. Cutting through the leather armor he had on himself, blood steadily overtook the warm shades he naturally wore, at the same time numbing his pace.

  Overwhelming him in the amount of slashes she performed with her daggers, Daine suddenly jumped forward, spinning her body whilst evading a fierce thrust.

  The dagger hero reappeared behind the furry demon, two deep grooves vehemently spurting out blood on the neck before he instantly fell down, utterly powerless.

  As for the last set of noises, the man simply stared at the tree the bow hero had her weapon pointed at. A girl with a violet face expressed her distress, trying hard to pull out the arrow that connected her black wings to the bark behind her.

  Watching as Kylli readied to release the string however, the demon pushed aside with her body, partially rending the wings. Quickly taking flight, the demon wobbled through the air, but she still managed to do it. At least, until an arrow pierced through the soft flesh coating her figure.

  Right in the middle of the chest, a metallic head protruded, blood smeared all over. Falling down, her face grazed through a tree, breaking her limbs slightly as she fell on the protruding roots.

  Finally, he watched as all three of the heroes turned towards his faltered figure, witnessing with furrowed eyebrows the constant, harsh breathing he portrayed. However, rather than them, the man stared ahead of himself, watching the blonde-haired lady with sapphire eyes watch over him with a worried glance.

  Still, she quickly calmed herself, peering down beside him, to which he followed her sights. A deep-gray shade swallowed the being that fell ahead of the man, battled by the scattered red all around the silhouette. Pooling underneath the body, the blood tainted the brown leaves.

  Riddled all across the body, countless cuts and holes filled the demon with a shattered horn atop its head. And, in the very middle of the chest, a wooden handle stood high in the air, its sharp, metallic head penetrating through the demon’s heart.

  “You did well,” said Sheila, getting his attention back. Yet, still breathing harshly, he couldn’t reply immediately.

  “... Thank you for that time. If not for your help earlier, he would have taken my leg off fully,” the man said, promptly looking down at his right thigh, on which a horrific gash parted his flesh, covered with blood all around.

  “It’s fine, I’m here exactly for that,” the saintess spoke while correcting a few strands of her hair behind the right ear. Then, with the staff in her grasp, she quickly moved forward. “Let me heal you,” the girl added, only for a voice from behind to make her turn around.

  “Are you sure? What if the priests find out?” Daine asked while resting her hands on the back of her head. Only for the relaxed expression around her face to abate when she witnessed Sheila’s festered eyebrows.

  “Are you hearing yourself? He will die in a few hours if I don’t use my powers,” she barked out with a clenched jaw, suddenly turning back at the words grazing her back.

  “She’s right,” the voice spoke, making Sheila immure her eyes at the man sitting near the tree. Not listening to their words in the slightest, she grasped her staff tightly, the gem on top glimmering promptly.

  Swiftly, her hand traced along his body, settling the palm around the staggering wound on his thigh. Letting it sit there for a few breaths, the man groaned suddenly, feeling the injuries retract, at the same time pulling out all of the blood before it trickled down his broken armor.

  Moving her hand up, the thigh spasmed quickly as the muscles were connected again, only a large bruise remaining on the area. However, at the expense of the man, the girl shivered abruptly, dirtying her yellow dress as she fell down on the ground beside the lying corpse.

  “What did we tell you?” Byrde voiced out, somewhat sighing, however, the girl’s wobbly knees slowly raised themselves up, adamant in her expression.

  “I don’t care about the priests. We’re the hero’s party, remember? We have to pull each other together, no matter what. Especially when the demons are all around nowadays,” she said, dusting off her backside lightly while watching the man before her.

  His breathing started to calm down, albeit, he still rested on the spot, trying to move as little as possible. Glancing around at the demonic corpses instead, Lutiel couldn’t help but clench his jaw, at the same time tightening his hands into squeaking fists. Lowering his head and closing his eyes somewhat, he let out an eased breath.

  “These bastards. It’s the third time they blocked our path this week. This is seriously getting out of hand,” he muttered whilst raising his head back at the heroes, peering especially into the saintess. “We need to think of a different route if we want to kill one of their lords.”

  “There is no other way. The other ones only result in our death,” the burly knight and his shield spoke back with his deep tone. “You should be happy we hadn’t encountered some rogue demons. I’m sure it wouldn’t be as easy fighting them as these ones here,” he added, only for the bow hero to nod briskly.

  “We all understand you joined us just a month ago, but you should have realized what sort of dangers this position holds in that time, no?” Daine said, making the man’s lips sour slightly, frowning.

  Grunting away as he started to raise himself from the spot, his figure swiftly eased up when Sheila aided him. “... I know, I know,” he repeated through the harsh breaths, limping while walking together with the girl's assistance. “I know very well what my role entails. I’m the fake hero of the spear, you don’t have to tell me.”