CHAPTER 11.

"It doesn't sound like you mean it Sir Hero," she said, her tone cold, she would have him running to her.

"I do mean it, you can sit out tomorrow's hunt if you like." he said, "this spot seems safe enough or you could come with us and choose to do nothing."

"I believe that today deserves more than that. Good sir," said Malty, keeping her tone a little more relaxed than before.

"That is unfortunate Princess," he said a little colder now," I was under the impression that you wished to participate in the waves, I can only imagine just how much effort we will need for them, this is just training for them."

"We have you for the waves Sir Hero," she said, feeling her anger rise, this man was supposed to beg her to forgive him, how dare he not even apologize for the day.

"I am the Sword Hero, I do not doubt my ability to kill my enemies, not after today. I must still train of course but that is a given." he said, then sighed, "I apologize princess, but I fear for your safety, these waves are said to be apocalyptic how can four men no matter how strong protect everyone?"

This pathetic fool was truly worthless, what was the point of a sword that could not even have the courage to fight. But this was still useful.

Malty smiled at him, and graciously said, "It is fine Sir Hero, you must be quite tired as well, please don't worry about any of this, I am certain that you shall be more than capable of doing your duty. And I will be here to help you throughout your trials."

"Thank you, princess," he said, a tired smile of his own.

The fool. A few simple words and he was begging for her forgiveness. He would be hers in no time.

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Her thoughts were far worse on the third day. The Sword Hero kept up his intense schedule, they had all levelled up but it was not worth the layers of filth and the persistent smell of blood that were now bound to her. Even worse was how her levels were now slightly lower than his, she looked towards her Status and found in her party inventory

Malty Melromarc Level 28

Adrian Black Level 30

Andrea Level 33

Bellamy 32

Worse was how he kept disregarding her advice, when she had attempted to get him to stop his run through the forest, he had simply stated that if she was too tired then perhaps she should take a break, Bellamy had been left to guard her while she rested, and then he had left with the other girl.

In less than half an hour after that, he had simply commanded them to start up again, his only favour towards her? A small stamina potion. It was infuriating. Malty continued to trek behind them, they were finally moving towards the exit to the forest, but at this point, Malty had made up her mind. The Sword Hero and his two servants would pay for this indignity, she could feel her anger wish to spark up in the form of fire, and as she stared at his back the temptation to just blast him was almost impossible to stop.

Then the most disgusting bug flew out of the forest making a direct beeline for the blonde girl, Malty just sneered at the useless bug, expecting it to die but the girl just froze, unlike every other time she didn't casually deflect it with her shield and leave it open to an attack by the Hero or Bellamy instead the massive insect almost struck her with its stinger, in fact, it would have managed to had a sword not launched itself through the insect, which was killed instantly and pinned to a nearby tree.

Then more began to fly towards them, but they were still as slow as before, so Malty began to chant while the Hero and fanatic kept them busy with their sword and light magic, none of the disgusting insects got through to her, but she could see that the Hero was being forced to use more effort than normal as the girl was still just shaking in place, pathetic, this girl was supposed to be an adventurer, it seemed that she was just a fool with a powerful father after all. It must have just been the Guildmasters influence and not her own talents.

"Sir Hero, I am ready," she said, once she had finished her chant, the Sword hero didn't respond but he cut down another monster, then ran towards the brat, picked her up and retreated in the space of a second, Bellamy who had been further away, bombarding them with his light blasts simply continued.

"Hellfire," she proclaimed, and a massive firestorm emerged in front of her, it's intensity surprising even her, it would seem that her levelling up had made her even more powerful!

The insects were roasted in mere seconds, and once her fire died down to embers she could only see a few dozen of them. The Hero finished them off quickly with his floating swords and a single swipe of his that sent an arc of energy cutting down three at once.

Malty turned to see that the Hero had a concerned look on his face, as the girl got up carefully from where he had laid her down in order to finish off the monsters. Malty felt like killing the girl, her job was to act on the frontline as a defence, what good was she if she froze when she saw a monster. She would make sure that the Sword Hero kicked this useless girl out, then not only could she get someone more useful, perhaps a knight loyal to her, but she would also no longer have to deal with this annoying brat. Plus there would be no more annoying conversations between the coward and the Sword Hero.

"Bellamy." the sword hero said, "keep watch. Ensure that we are safe."

The man nodded immediately, "Yes my lord. I am using my light magic to stay aware of all that is occurring in nearly 300 meters. We shall have no trouble detecting the incoming enemies."

The Hero frowned at this," Any limitations of the spell?"

"Yes sir, the magic consumption is high and thus I cannot use this for more than fifteen minutes. Also, sir, some magics can counter this power, mostly darkness based or light-based ones."

"I see, then please don't worry and use your magic water freely, I have several stored in the sword for emergencies."

"Yes, sir!"

"Andrea," he said, his voice far too gentle with the fool who had disrupted their fight," how are you feeling right now?"

Malty sneered at his behaviour, was this fool so ridiculous as to show this girl some pity for making such a mistake, he needed to learn how to discipline his followers, clearly, he was not fit to be a leader.

The girl just stared blankly at him, she had turned to look at him when he spoke but said nothing. The Sword hero knelt and offered her healing water, slowly pushing it into her hand. That startled her into action, and then she realized what had happened, and stared at the hero who just said," Drink it please."

Andrea obeyed, and then as her wounds healed, her expression began to close off. Malty felt like slapping the idiot. The Hero noticed as well, because he continued, "Andrea, tell me did something happen to you in the first wave?"

The girl's eyes widened, and she said," How did you.."

"The name of the monster was Extra-dimensional drone insect: class alpha," he said.

Malty had to admit to some surprise here, this brat had fought against the first wave? She had known that this girl was the child of the head of the guild but frankly she had not thought much of the girl, but if this was all that this weakling was capable of then no doubt she had run away from the monsters and gotten lucky enough to be faster than them.

When the girl said nothing for about 30 seconds, Adrian stood back up, "Anything to note Bellamy?"

"No sir, we are clear."

"Very well. Everyone we are taking a break, let's return to the same spot where we took our third break in yesterday, I believe it is close enough and is likely to be easy to secure." he said and then turned to where the girl was still sitting down, "Andrea, please stand up, we can deal with this after we've had a snack and some rest."

The girl stared at his offered hand for a second before standing up without taking it," It is fine. I can continue." she said, trying to sound stoic, but Malty could easily hear the waver that the pathetic girl had in her voice. Still, it was good that she wasn't willing to waster Malty's time.

"No, not right now." he said simply, but firmly " we shall eat, rest and then speak. We can continue after that."

Malty felt furious for a moment as she realized that he had let her rest so easily while he hadn't even considered letting her rest for a moment! But then Malty felt a small smile emerge as she realized that Adrian was going to show this girl her place, it would seem that he had realized how useless she was and was trying to let her down easy while removing her from his party by letting her relax first. He was a kind fool but she could see how to use that so it was not a problem. Malty almost laughed as she realized that the girl who she had been planning to kick out soon had already blundered so badly.

Sometimes things were too easy.

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Bellamy POV:

They all sat down in their old resting site, it was a good location, a large clearing so that nothing could easily sneak up on them, some logs and stones for decent seating, and since they had collected a number of branches yesterday to feed to the Legendary Sword, Sir Adrian simply used them as firewood and then changed his Sword into a candle-like form and started the fire.

"Sword Hero this is not needed." said Miss Andrea, sounding tired, rather than annoyed," we should continue hunting."

"Let us eat first. A small delay is insignificant." he replied, his voice as calm as ever," and we have levelled up far beyond my expectations. Even if we should leave right now it would not be a big loss, but I think that there is something we should do here."

Bellamy wasn't sure what the Hero was referring to at the end of his sentence but he did agree that they had levelled up far beyond any reasonable expectations. But then while the Saint did not see just how incredible he was, Bellamy could see just why they had made such progress through the Dark Forest.

Truth be told, Bellamy had been here before with his comrades from the Church. They had camped out here for two weeks to level up, and despite their best efforts they had spent most of the time running from too tough monsters, carefully analyzing a foe to ensure they could take it down, and then using combination attacks to defeat them. It had been exhausting work but rewarding as well. Bellamy had grown two levels going from level 18 to 20 and he had been proud of his work and that of his fellows.

He had not realized just how inadequate their methods had been until today.