First murder

What the fuck is wrong with that crazy woman!? Ethel thought as she watched the girl land after cleanly cutting off the bear's head, making the last one disappear in black smoke.

But instead of being amazed that the girl managed to kill the monster that surpassed her by dozens of levels, Ethel was furious!

At the last moment, when she was casting a spell to help the girl, the crazy girl charged head-on into the bear!

If it weren't for her quick casting of the spell, the girl would have died!

But this is weird... Ethel looked at the girl with dismay.

From what he could sense, the girl had not yet opened her mana reserve, so she had not yet awakened his class. So she must have depended on that sword with holy inscriptions to kill the monsters with dozens of levels above it.

If so... she must have great battle sense and great agility. Ethel analyzed the situation perfectly and came to a fairly accurate conclusion about what happened. But she still had a doubt...

But if that's the case... Why the hell did he charge head-on at the bear at the last moment?! Did she sense my presence or rather, how did she know I would help her?! Ethel's curious personality came to light, preventing her from moving as she thought of multiple theories of what could have happened.

As for Kayla, she had fallen to one knee after killing the bear, exhausted.

Ah fuck... my body hurts like shit. Kayla felt her body scream in pain. The adrenaline that had been numbing her sense of pain was fading and she finally understood the agony of her body.

Although hey, I guess it was worth it... Kayla thought about the tons of experience she had gained and her mouth watered. With this, she could finally win a class and even more!

Kayla desperately wanted to check on her status, but she knew she had to do something first.

"Hey, aren't you coming to say hello to the person you saved?" Kayla asked the beautiful girl with gray, almost silver hair, who was off to the side mumbling things.

Ethel, lost in her thoughts about Kayla, finally reacted. Oh right, I haven't introduced myself yet...

"Oh yeah, this... well, hello, what's your name? I am Ethel…" Ethel approached uncomfortably. Although she was quite sociable, she had never found herself in a situation where she saved a stranger.

"I'm Kayla and thank you for helping me there, it would have been hard for me to beat that big guy without your help" Kayla smiled and approached.

Although she didn't like approaching people her age, she had basic manners and the fact that Ethel helped a stranger like her gave several points in her favor. So Kayla viewed her favorably.

"Hahaha what confidence, normally it would have been impossible for someone of your level to defeat that bear" Ethel laughed dryly.

"Haha, although I don't know how you know what level I'm at, I guess I have to agree with you, normally I couldn't beat that big guy…" Kayla looked at her sword lovingly. After all, she had only been able to win because of her.

"At least you know, there are many people who become arrogant because of beating higher level opponents with good artifacts-" Ethel started to lecture Kayla, but her eyes almost popped out of their sockets when she saw how the sword Kayla was approaching his neck of her in a lunge.

Shit!

Ethel wanted to curse her stupidity for trusting a stranger, but she knew she had to focus on a way not to die! From what she had seen before, that sword would have no problem piercing her tender neck!

But when she thought about her repertoire of defensive abilities, she realized that she didn't have any of her that activated quickly enough to defend herself!

Left with no options, Ethel closed her eyes and used her ability to control ice to cover her neck with a thick layer of ice and pray that at least she could keep her alive!

It works, please!

Bamm!

However, the impact she expected never came and instead, she heard a mini explosion behind her.

"Hey, why the hell are there people dressed in black trying to kill you?!" Kayla's voice rang out as she felt her body being hugged and pushed to the side.

When she opened her eyes, she realized that Kayla had hugged her and jumped with her on her back to avoid a fireball that had hit where they had been before.

"Oh right... I had forgotten they were chasing me hahaha" Ethel laughed as she looked at the floor, embarrassed.

Her bad habit had acted up again! She swore she was the only idiot who forgot everything she was doing just because she found something she couldn't understand!

Not to mention that I thought a good person was going to hurt me! In addition to shame, Ethel felt guilty for having misunderstood Kayla.

However, Kayla didn't know this and looked at Ethel, who had her face and ears red as a tomato, blankly.

How the hell did this girl survive until now?!

But Kayla got up quickly. Her disbelief of her could be left for later. She currently has bigger problems on her hands.

An example would be the fact that a man in an all-black suit was running towards them with his sword raised!

"Hey Ethel, I don't know about you, but I think it might be a good idea for you to stand up and help me against these guys!" Kayla shouted at Ethel as she advanced towards the swordsman.

Although this had nothing to do with her, she could feel that the guys were emitting intense killing intent toward her! It was obvious that they did not want to leave witnesses. Not to mention that Ethel had helped her before and she always paid her debts...

Although the opportunity came sooner than I thought!

The man, seeing that he was not going to back down, swung his sword at her.

And Kayla also slashed her sword at his, planning to clash swords. However, she could see in her vision of her future the result of the confrontation...

He would lose miserably and the man's sword would cut his neck!

So, thanks to the battle path that was still active despite losing a bit of effectiveness due to the small number of enemies, he immediately came up with a plan of action!

She looked into her opponent's eyes and glared at him defiantly, showing him that she would not lose in the clash of their swords!

The swordsman, noticing that, increased the strength of her sword!

They both swung their swords bravely!

But just before both swords collided, Kayla tilted her sword!

The swordsman's eyes widened, but it was too late. As the two swords collided, the man's sword slid past Kayla's sword, missing Kayla's figure by a large margin.

The veins in Kayla's right arm bulged from the tremendous pressure being placed on her arm. As she had seen in her future vision, the man's strength surpassed her by a large margin!

But despite that, Kayla did not miss the golden opportunity she had created and slashed towards the swordsman's neck, which was served on a silver plate for her!

However, something went wrong in her future vision!

The man had leaned back with inhuman flexibility, avoiding his sword by a hair's breadth!

Kayla tried to change the trajectory of her sword, but it was too late even for her.

Shit!!

Kayla tried to retreat quickly but saw out of the corner of her eye how a spear of fire and a ball of shadows were approaching her.

And if that were not enough, the swordswoman had already recovered from her uncomfortable position and was advancing towards her.

Eventually, Kayla realized that it was very different fighting humans compared to monsters. Although she could see the future, others could react to her actions and change the future she saw!

And right now, she couldn't see a future in which she would emerge unscathed!

So naturally, someone else had to change the future she saw...

"Frozen spears!"

Two blurs passed by her, crashing into the attacks that were coming towards her!

"I can't leave you fighting my battle alone, you know?" Ethel smiled at him as her hand was extended in her direction.

"Haha, it's a good thing I'm not fighting for a scoundrel!" Kayla smiled as she clashed swords with the swordsman again, although this time they clashed swords without any tricks.

As expected, her sword was repelled forcefully, but since she was prepared, her sword was not sent flying.

I guess I'll just have to keep it up... Kayla bit her lip, angry at not being able to clash swords with her enemy. Surprisingly, he had started to like clashing swords against his rival and finding out who would give in first!

However, she could barely stay on the defensive, forced to deflect attacks or dodge them entirely, with few opportunities to attack...

And while Kayla was fighting the swordsman, Ethel was fighting the rival magicians. Spells flew through the air, careful not to touch the two melee fighters.

Both sides had a tactical agreement. Ethel and the rival magicians knew that the balance of power between the swordsmen was quite delicate and any interference in the combat could change the outcome of the fight, even causing the weaker side to win.

Although Ethel wasn't one to follow the rules... she kept an eye on Kayla's struggle as an extremely small magic circle was created on her little finger.

Ting!

Kayla frowned as she lost again in the clash of swords. He had been exchanging attacks with the murderer for a few minutes and was already beginning to feel that his wrist had small fractures. I won't be able to hold on much longer...

And the murderer, with his long years of experience, realized this. Then, as Kayla backed away as always, he kicked the ground hard and propelled himself towards Kayla, with a speed he had not shown before!

Kayla's eyes widened. Even with foresight, she couldn't move his body fast enough to block the attack!

However, Battlepath, who had been somewhat dormant, suddenly activated strongly and showed Kayla what she needed to do.

And a small smile appeared on Kayla's face.

Just before the assassin's sword touched Kayla, a smoke-making ice needle stabbed into her arm, freezing her body!

The assassin's eyes filled with panic. He tried to move his body desperately, but no matter how hard he tried, his body wouldn't move.

He had been trapped in temporary paralysis!

"Your damn!"

The other wizards cursed Ethel, who had a malicious smile, and cast spells towards Kayla, in an attempt to stop her. But Ethel was prepared for that and intercepted the spells with her own.

So with nothing standing in her way, Kayla hastily plunged her sword into the man's neck.

The man's eyes, which had always remained cloudy, cleared in his last moment and he looked at Kayla with desperation and terror as she felt her sword slowly dig into her neck...

Finally, Kayla pulled the sword from the man's neck, letting the corpse collapse to the floor...

However, instead of being happy at the notification that appeared on the side of her vision, Kayla felt a sudden dizziness.

A hot drop of blood had fallen on her face, and even though it was already full of her own sweat and blood, the warmth of that single drop of blood was unique...

I...

Kayla looked at the hand that held her sword. Hot blood dripped from her sword and onto her hand, staining it.

Finally, Kayla realized what she had done and strong nausea threatened to knock her to the floor.

I killed a human!!

Kayla grabbed her head tightly and was about to kneel on the floor, but a scream stopped her.

"Hey, even though this was apparently your first murder, we're in no position to take it easy and let you have a moral crisis!" Ethel screamed with a pale face. That ice needle and the various spells she cast to intercept the rival mages' desperate efforts to stop Kayla had completely exhausted her.

"We'll have time for you to vomit and all that after we kill those bastards, so please come and help me kill them!"

Kayla smiled a little at that. Ethel was right, it was no time to get depressed!

She got up and ran towards the mages, trusting that Ethel would stop any attack that would come towards her.

"Fine, but know that you owe me several!"

Ethel just smiled as she nodded and continued with her task of intercepting any enemy spells.