*Shi~ing!*
*Wa-boom!*
"Ayl!"
"On it!"
*Fwoom! Fwoom!*
"KUAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"Hold it steady, Bundo!"
"GOAAAAAA!"
Mmm…
*Munch*
*Munch*
*Munch*
I'm pretty sure they're beating that Ghosekan's ass.
…Yep, they are.
After four weeks of unending trials-of-combat, they are worthy.
Four weeks are both short and long.
Short because they aren't really fully trained yet.
Long because they're pretty much capable of dealing with what's inside Quietus.
I watched the fight from my now-usual spot; perched atop a tree, eating some berries that I found on a nearby bush.
They were not very sweet and didn't taste like the berries back on Earth, but they still tasted quite nice.
I mean, I guess they wouldn't, berries from Earth needed countless selective generational breeding in order to become what they are now.
But this is a game, right?
Realistic, yes, but still a game.
So, shouldn't it also provide some good qualities, like actually retaining that sweet, fresh taste that fruits and veggies and cooked meat have?
I don't know why having such a minor mechanism like eating and drinking need to be so bad.
Anyway, back to the fight, yes.
Should I give the background for this fight?
Nah—actually, yeah, sure.
So, the target for their hunt this time was an alpha Ghosekan.
I had led the party to a new clearing, deep enough that a Ghosekan—a snake as thick as a tree trunk and long as a vine—had made its home there.
After giving the team the surface info on it, they went to work on hunting it down.
The Ghosekan was not playing around.
Its fangs were the size of daggers, and its sheer body weight was enough to crush a person.
But the party was handling it like child's play, and it was their first time combatting this type of enemy, too.
Tyler was using himself as a distraction, sprinting along the snake's flank, darting in and out, making shallow cuts, forcing the Ghosekan's massive head to follow him like a clumsy metronome.
It was brilliant baiting.
"Mel! Focus on its wounds!"
Melophone, the mage who used to adore casting spells that took three business days to charge, didn't hesitate.
*Bzzt!*
A tiny, quick bolt of lightning shot out and hit one of the cuts.
The electric shock rippled through the snake's nervous system, forcing it to flinch and momentarily coil.
That was Ayleen's opening.
She had her eyes locked onto a weak scale patch near the snake's neck, a spot my intuition had flagged before to be the weak spot.
Zero clue on how she managed to find that without a cheat skill like mine, but since it's a good sign, I have no qualms about it.
*Fwoom! Fwoom! Fwoom!*
Three arrows, one after the other, hit the exact same spot, tearing through the compromised scales like paper, and managing to pierce through the Ghosekan's thick skin.
The Ghosekan hissed in pain, its massive tail whipping blindly towards Mel and Ayleen.
"Bundo!"
"HOUUUUU!"
Bundo ran to the front of the two, and blocked the incoming tail with his mace.
"IYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
His irises went white; his entire body turning red.
He had activated his berserk skill.
With newfound strength, he swung his mace at the tail, slamming down on it and immobilizing the Ghosekan.
As the Ghosekan struggled to break its tail free from the mace and crazy berserker, it was peppered with spells and arrows.
It could do nothing but sit there and take it.
Every time it tried to spray its venom or lunge at them, it was countered by the team's perfect aggro play.
Finally, Tyler delivered the finishing blow to the weathered-down Ghosekan, doing a circular maneuver on its neck.
*SCHLKK!*
The Ghosekan's head tumbled onto the forest floor, its life ended.
Eating the rest of my berries in one go, I jumped down from the tree, and walked over to the party.
They were now dusting themselves off and talking to each other like it's just another Tuesday for them, but they always kept checking the surroundings to see if there was any other issue that might pop up.
They were ready now.
As I approached them, they each gave me their versions of a friendly expression; Tyler's was a smile that belonged to those superheroes you'd see in comics, Mel's had a small smile, with Bundo being the complete opposite and giving a full, cheek-to-cheek grin, and Ayleen had…a pretty generic, but still nice smile with dimples on each cheek as a cherry on top.
"You no longer useless. Won't die anymore."
"We worked hard."
Tyler puffed out his chest, taking in the full pleasure of hearing my very rare compliments.
"I think I'm starting to see why you prefer shorter spells now, Grul."
Mel demonstrated her ability to quickly shift between spells that could adapt to any situation that called for them.
"The materials from this forest are pretty good…it'd be nice to live here, if it weren't for the animals."
Ayleen noted, and then promptly notched an arrow up towards the sky, causing a loud *Skree!* to sound off, with a body of a bird falling soon after.
"Vultures are already here. I think it's time we moved this corpse to a better spot."
Woah, even I didn't notice there was a bird hovering over us.
Shaking my head, I focused on the situation at hand; we indeed needed to find somewhere else to talk for now.
Vultures of the Forest had started to gather; a species that is very annoying to deal with since they come not in committees, but in hordes, and they aren't afraid to fight you for the corpse.
Plus, they have a distinctly loud squawk that entire damn forest to know where you are and what happened.
"Wahahaha! Grul, Bundo show you my big strength!"
Bundo then proceeded to carry the separated body of the Ghosekan on his own, lifting it with impressive poise.
"Grul said lift with back and core! Not with legs!"
Of course, that left the head of the Ghosekan, which was as valuable as the body of the Ghosekan.
Thankfully, Tyler was also strong, and carried the head along with him.
Not to be out done, the girls helped out as well, with Mel casting spells that cleared the path and Ayleen scouting ahead.
For the first time, I felt quite proud of their accomplishments.
If this is what teaching feels like, then I understand why teachers deal with what they deal with.
If this is the pay-off, then everything before that was worth it.
Kicking my sentimental feelings away, I moved on to the actually important thing.
"Tomorrow, we go to the deeper Forest."
The adventurers immediately tensed, their faces turning serious.
This was it for them.
Their quest was about to begin.
Tyler nodded, his excitement barely contained.
"Understood. We'll rest tonight, then prepare for the full expedition first thing in the morning."
"Ghosekan?"
"…Ah, right, the Ghosekan. We'll dismantle its parts and then go straight to the quest."
"Preparations?"
"We'll have water, food, and potions."
"…Smoke bombs."
"R-right, the smoke bombs as well! In case we're in danger. You can leave now, we'll be readier than even once you come back."
I sighed at his display of potentially dangerous and reckless excitement.
The thought of leaving them alone now felt risky.
They might mess up and storm out before I could even guide them.
I looked back toward the settlement.
The sun had completely set.
Going back to the settlement now, as I had usually done these past few weeks every night and waking up and coming back in the early morning, means a two-hour round trip, and those two little brats back at home were already asleep by then.
They wouldn't even notice if I was gone for one night.
I pointed my finger at the ground beside the campfire they've set.
"No. Not leave. Grul sleep here. Watch."
The four humies looked stunned.
They exchanged glances, unsure of how to process the sudden appearance of a colossal Orc sleeping alongside them.
Now the flip's been script—what?
I meant, now the script's been flipped; I'm the one unexpectedly becoming the neighbor.
How'd you like that, huh?
"W-we're honored, Grul, truly. But are you sure? We might distur—"
I cut Tyler off, dropping my armor and Natascha, with a loud thud.
I settled down, stretching my legs out by the fire.
"Grul stay. No complaints. Now, eat, then sleep. Tomorrow, hard work."
I had a front-row seat to monitor my hard-earned assets.
This was the perfect time to observe their behavior and evaluate them.
After tonight, the deepest part of the Quietus Forest was now waiting for us.