The tail that kept on rattling and moving within its limit suddenly bent and stretched forward. It moved bottom-up and hit the upper part of Yoo-Jung’s bust; it seemed like it was aiming for an instant death of its target. I was moving ahead hastily when I suddenly stopped and looked at Yoo-Jung who was in shock and replied,

“Shame!”

With a strange coherence, Yoo-Jung leaned onto the floor as if she slipped on the floor and almost hit the ground. Immediately, the tail retreated into the air as if it was trying to pierce her neck. Almost simultaneously, Yoo-Jung changed her position by sliding herself with one hand, and as she changed the course of her direction, she managed to get behind the Renga.

The Renga who was occupied with the targets behind, turned his hot-red face as he pulled his tail away from his front. And like that, Yoo-Jung moved towards the neck of the Renga with her dagger. Not a single sign of hesitation. She attacked the Renga, grabbed his neck, instinctively tore down his whole body and came back to the place where I was standing.

With her beaming face, Yoo-Jung neared and gazed at my blank face. An Hyun, who had followed me, left a huge scream after getting shocked by seeing this.

At that moment, Yoo-Jung didn’t utilize her entire strength. Surely, Yoo-Jung used both her agility and magic ability. However, both their fighting styles were different. An Hyun, with his physical strength, durability, and stamina, was able to go beyond the norm while remaining faithful to the basics and retaining the authenticity.

However, Yoo-Jung uses agility and magic from the forefront by taking advantage of the gaps; it seems some sort of style has started to develop. I’m not sure, but if she had two short daggers with her in a general fight, it would be almost impossible to see her in a bright light.

In the meantime, if I were to compare the two of them purely based on their combat abilities, then An Hyun could be considered a notch above Yoo-Jung. However, on second thought, I might need to reconsider it. Tidy and simple movements. And the most efficient ones. Though it was just a split second, Yoo-Jung’s deft maneuvers left a deep impression on me. If I were to see the same every time there is a fight….

“Siyiiiiiiii!”

The sound of the Renga’s shriek could be heard. I looked at Yoo-Jung who came near and slightly nodded. Reading my facial expression, Yoo-Jung gave me a wide smile. Somehow, the atmosphere of this fight seemed to be good. This is the first time I was feeling satisfied after coming into the Dark Forest.

It was then.

Bang!

One of the Rengas, who were huddling together and spewing out in a total chaos, burst out into the air. It wasn’t a simple jump – it was a 3-meter-high jump which made the monster go behind us. Seeing this, the kids’ faces went blank.

Yoo-Jung, An Hyun, and I have all been killing the Rengas, but the most impressive user was Yoo-Jung. As the Rengas are animals of a clan, they directed their wrath towards those who killed one of theirs, so they were mostly aiming towards Yoo-Jung.

Seeing a Renga jump this high was the first time for me, too. The first thing I needed to do was to protect Yoo-Jung, the one they were all aiming for. If you do the leaf attack from down, the destructive power will be huge, so it was a matter of move without any damage due to the physical ability of Yoo-Jung.

During this time, our group isn’t going to stay still; moreover, we had a momentum going on, too. During this event, Not crying for Oppa and Unnie, Sol held her staff and a dagger in front of her. We were waiting for the moment the Rengas would charge. The moment they came into our sight, Sol muttered a spell.

“Shackles!”

As soon as Sol’s clear voice was heard, the body of the Rengas that were coming down onto us suddenly went stiff and went crashing to the ground. The kids and I who have managed to take them out one by one down all turned our eyes towards Sol. No matter what kind of order it was, it will be based on the ability of the User, and this was first designation, no second, but it increased to the third level for Sol, and this was the first time. Surely, the power of her order is weaker than the order that was delivered, but it was just enough to swallow the movements of the Rengas.

A pure face that wasn’t compatible with her actions; we all immediately stared at Sol who took down the Rengas. Seven Rengas had attacked us right at the beginning. It was surprising as the number surpassed our imagination.

Even then, there are still ten left. The eyes of the remaining Rengas seemed to have received a certain amount of heat. All of them raised their arms and began to approach us rapidly. I stepped back into the path that we came in for securing the exit, and I set my sword high.

“Khyaa!”

The Rengas screeched at us and began to jump up. However, we were not so worried or surprised this time. Though this attack pattern was a bit different from the general Rengas, it seemed like we had become accustomed to this new pattern. An Hyun and Yoo-Jung were trying to keep up the momentum, but this time it was different – a bit bolder.

I split its head with my sword after diverting its claws away. That moment was the signal to resume the battle. This kind of movement was definitely different from the attack that a Renga usually does as this time, they were in direct offence. As they moved swiftly, the kids and I went forward with the utmost force possible to overcome their attack. As it could be a little dangerous, we immediately retreated a little once again.

I started off good and gave myself a little room, but within a few minutes, I got adjusted and set my mind straight on the fight. If the kids had their first battle at the beginning of the Dark Forest, they would have immediately fallen back. I could see that An Hyun has improved a little as he’s coordinating the battlefield with appropriate actions.

Yoo-Jung was consistently defending herself and wielding her dagger aggressively, without even taking a break to counter their attacks. I could see a few minor injuries, but it seems that she has been trying to reduce them to a minimum. She was handling both the daggers in her hand with great skill, displaying a great amount of power.

While we were slowly going back, we heard An Sol’s clear voice again.

“Shackles!”

“Yeah! This is it! An Sol! Awesome!”

The place where Sol pointed her staff was where the Rengas were surrounding Yoo-Jung. Yoo-Jung, who was waving her dagger like a crazy person, jumped and screamed out of joy as all the Rengas turned stiff. An Hyun and I looked at the sight of Yoo-Jung gripping her dagger tighter and rushing towards the Rengas.

I didn’t use much of my power to deal with the Rengas. I swung my sword towards the guy who was running towards me with his sharp claws and cut his head off neatly like a tofu. It seemed like the sword could sense the amount of strength that it needed to attack.

It’s like one receives an additional positive correction for all their swords actions. The advantage of this power is tremendous. Not only that, the new sword in combination with the EX rank is equally strong. Now, I am curious as to how much power it would release if I were to swing it in a rough manner and when I swing it with all my heart in it.

The Rengas started to fall down like leaves falling from a tree after I started to push forward the sword with a smashing sound. Understanding that we had the superiority, for the first time, An Hyun went out of his way and danced. Soon, Hyun retained his composure, and both of us moved to the centre and stood there when we heard the sounds of the Rengas approaching us once again.

“Light!”

Once again, we heard Sol’s shout. This time, it was not the ‘shackle’ spell, it was the ‘light’ spell. As soon as the white spheres lit up, the leftover Rengas became visible to our eyes and sprang towards us with a sparkling light. To battle with these guys, it seemed like there’s a need to use magic. And this time, the capacity of Sol’s order was amazing.

Hyun and I hurried over to the Rengas blinded by the light, and Yoo-Jung joined us too, forming a triangle. Once again, I handled only two Rengas at a time. It seemed like their ears caught on to an intuition about their demise already.

Without concerning himself about that, Hyun’s eyes glistened, and he opened his mouth.

“The right side is mine.”

“Then, I’ll take the left.”

“….”

*

After a while, we were done looking out for the Rengas. Hyun and Yoo-Jung had a lot of minor injuries, but after drinking the potion and receiving the treatment spell from Sol, their faces regained their previous shine. An abnormal thought surfaced in my brain, but I decided to close my mouth for now. I thought that it was not bad to go with the flow once, rather than to get hurt unconditionally.

Honestly, it was tough on these kids even though they did well in this fight. They didn’t do so “good” as to going beyond their limits, but they did go past their original strength and their level users. Even then, if experiences like this accumulate, they can learn how to combine combat skills and can understand the harmony that is needed to be in a Caraban. This was the first time after leaving the city that I’m feeling a sense of achievement.

“I’ve got more than you did.”

“That is because the length of your lance is long. On top of that, you attacked more. Considering that, I did much better.”

“Thinking you’ve won, honestly.”

“Isn’t it the truth? Then, let’s ask Oppa!”

It looks like these guys are fighting a lot these times. But, before long, the two of them directed their eyes towards me without speaking anything. Honestly, when it comes to consider them overall, Hyun is better. We can see stability in his performance. But this time, Yoo-Jung seems to have found her skill and this was a point to be considered.

“Hmmm.”

When I= showed them my intention that I was thinking over it carefully, and due to the complexity of their question, the kids’ faces started to get nervous. They were pretty excited on whom I was going to pick. No. I was feeling more embarrassed as they were looking at me with such serious expressions. In the end, I decided to skip over the topic quietly.

“Both of you were good. What so ever, get your bodies recovered first.”

“Ah! Who is better? A little better. There is bound to be, right? Huh?”

Looking at Yoo-Jung, who was persistently asking, made me feel a little stiff. And as a penalty for their actions, I directed my gaze at Sol.

“Haha! How about Sol?”

“No, no way. All I did was just to concentrate and recite the spells.”

On my comment, Sol avoided my gaze by turning her head away slowly and spoke out of shock. I was trying to look for salvation out of this situation. Not knowing this, Sol looked into my eyes, being unaware that she was rubbing her feet and then turned her face to the ground.

“What? Hyung, I know the answer. It is me. I was better.”

“Gibberish!!”

“I’m sorry you were expecting something, but you were not the answer. Hehe.”

“What did you say? You’re really something…..”

They continued fighting for quite some time. Looking at Hyun and Yoo-Jung who were talking to each other, I felt like I could take a breath. We reverted to our original atmosphere after a period of time.