Kray stood on his feet and pat his buttocks from dust and approached the sitting Philip.
"You don't have any weapon anymore. Stick close to us from now on." He said,
"That idiot thinks he is super strong, look at what happened to him. He looked like a wet Fanged puppy." Chester insulted as he pointed his finger at the drooping Philip,
Philip stood up angrily as he shouted at Chester.
"Should I feel thankful huh?! Want me to kill you right here, right now?" Philip said as he formed a fist,
"As if you could kill me? You want to punch me? Come, I won't back down from you." Chester pulled his sleeves up.
Geraldine ran towards the center and pushed the two away.
"Guys. We shouldn't be fighting at one another. Especially here in the middle of the forest." Geraldine exclaimed,
"Hmph. I don't need your help. You weaklings can go and be gay with each other for all I care." Philip pushed Geraldine's hands to the side and tried to walk away,
"Where the hell is your pride coming from?" Kray said to the back of Philip as he stopped in place,
"Ever since 2nd grade of elementary, you kept bullying us. What have we ever done to you?" Kray added,
Philip only stood in place without uttering a single word.
"If you want to die so badly then go! You are not fit to becoming an adventurer because of your prideful and egoistic attitude. I don't care whatever happens to you but today, you are part of the party and I won't leave a party member to die." Kray continued,
"You want me to say thank you? Is that it?! I will never!" Philip sneered,
"I don't need a thank you especially coming from you. You want to pass the exam? Then compromise because even if a miracle will happened and you become an adventurer, you will never survive out their on your own. You think the Legendary party can defeat the Demon Lord if it was only Ms. Castle or The Pirate King of the Thousand Isles or The Machinist of Shrym? No! The Demon Lord lost because he was alone. The legendary Party won because they had each other's backs. But you? You will die out there on your own without anyone looking out for you and with that kind of attitude, no will ever befriend you. You can leave the party after but right now... You have to compromise." Kray said,
Philip clicked his tongue and went to them.
Chester never looked at Philip, not even once.
"Stupid idiot thinks too highly of himself." Chester uttered.
Philip can only knit his brows tighter and grit his teeth.
"Sigh!" Kray and Geraldine took a very deep breathe of relief.
"Let's go." Kray gestured everyone and they continued walking to the center of the forest.
----
The party creeped their heads out of the bush slowly.
"There is so many Treant Younglings." Chester said,
Treant Younglings are a level 13 mobs and somewhere near the Treant Younglings are Treants, a level 15 mob.
"Where the hell are the Iron Beak Pink Maruda are even at?" Crimson asked,
"Well, it is not here so we better leave." Kray answered,
"Did the facilitator ever gave any info?" Chester asked,
"None that I heard of." Geraldine answered.
The four sighed in place as they walked away from the Treant Younglings. Philip just followed suit to wherever they go. Since he doesn't have any weapon on hand, he can only stand behind them. He would occasionally be their meat shield but that's about it.
"Guys, I see several party up ahead." Chester announced.
They continued to the road and saw a huge plain about a kilometer or two in radius. In the center are huge towering trees about a fifteen meters tall. A flock of Iron Beak Pink Maruda circle around the tall trees. An Iron Beak Pink Maruda looked like a hawk only bigger, a pink feathers filled its body with a gray singe color could be found on the tip of its yellow beak.
A few party would occasionally fight an Iron Beak Pink Maruda but before they could deal the finishing blow, the injured Iron Beak Pink Maruda would retreat back to the towering tree. Only a few Iron Beak Pink Maruda would fall due to the long range attacks of some magic users.
"We finally found the freaking Marudas." Chester said,
"How are we even going to climb those tree? It's huge." Geraldine asked,
"Not to mention schooing away the attacking Iron Beak Pink Marudas whenever you would climb." Crimson added.
"I can easily climb the tree. What I need though is cover." Kray said,
"Looks like unarmed gets to be useful for us. We could give you cover but with the amount of Iron Beak Pink Marudas up there. I don't think we could keep up." Chester said,
"It's alright. I can jump to the next tree if need be. The distance between towering trees would be a helpful cover that minimizes the mobility of the Iron Beak Pink Maruda. The only problem is going near the towering tree." Kray said,
Kray looked at Philip and said,
"Be the tank. If an Iron Beak Pink Maruda attacks you, we will give you cover." Kray commanded Philip,
'Tsk.' Philip clicked his tongue as they started walking to the center when they encounter another party near them.
"Kray. Looked. It's Purple haired princess." Chester poked at the back of Kray and pointed at the approaching party.
Their leader, the purple haired girl with a luxurious Japanese armor in the medieval period approached them. Her samurai sheathed to her side, the sunlight lit her jade white skin like she is glowing and sparkling at the same time. Her cold demeanor exudes majesty that blends well to her poreless Face.
"You." The girl pointed at Kray as she is surrounded by her party members.
Taken aback, Kray looked to his sides then pointed at himself.
"M-me?"
"Yes, you."
Both stared a little, Kray feels flustered as she continued to stare coldly, her perfect ached brows just add the feeling of coldness.
"I just heard you can climb that towering tree easily. How about teaming up? We will provide you with cover but you guys have to also provide us with an egg." She coldly said,
"Before we could even team up, it is better if you could provide the name of this person we are teaming up with? So we can adress you accordingly. We can't just keep calling you beauty, wouldn't we?" Chester said in a deep and suave voice. Of course, Kray knew Chester's intention. If he happens to see a beauty, he will almost immediately, like an instinct of some sort, make a move to the beauty if given the opportunity.
She looked coldly at Chester and returned her gaze at Kray.
"We don't need no introductions. We are not here to make friends. Are you in or out?" She said in the most monotone of a voice,
"Okay then. You have yourself a deal." Kray raised his hand for a handshake in order to finalize the deal but The Cold Monster didn't even shake it as she turned towards the towering tree. Getting awkward, he slowly put his hand down.
'What a cold person.' Kray thought, brows twitching,
"We will serve as tanks for you guys as we ran towards the towering trees. My mage and archer will provide you with cover once you climb the three." She informed,
"Okay then." Kray just smiled wryly.
Her party is consisting of her, A Wind Magic User, An Archer and a Nature Magic User.
The two party started running towards the towering tree. An Iron Beak Pink Maruda saw the two party running towards the tree
"The child of the wind. Protect your friend with a slash of your wind. Wind Blade!" The wind user casted a spell and hit the approaching Iron Beak Pink Maruda,
Noticing this, two more Iron Beak Pink Maruda flew towards them when The purple haired girl sliced the two approaching Iron Beak Pink Maruda, leaving the two Iron Beak Pink Maruda bleeding as it tried to fly back to the towering trees.
"I won't let you! Lord of Fire, Please lend this disciple the wrath of your flames and scorched the enemy and lock them in place! Searing Chains!" Crimson casted his new skill and hit the bleeding Maruda.
[Killed an Iron Beak Pink Maruda Lvl 15 - Exp: 375]
[Level Up!]
[Geraldine Faithlock Lvl 9 - > Lvl 10]
[Crimson Almag Lvl 10 - > Lvl 11]
'Wow. The three of us leveled up today.' Kray thought as he continued to run towards the towering trees.
[Killed an Iron Beak Pink Maruda Lvl 15 - Exp: 375]
[Killed an Iron Beak Pink Maruda Lvl 15 - Exp: 375]
[Killed an Iron Beak Pink Maruda Lvl 15 - Exp: 375]
[Level up!]
[Chester Note Lvl 11 - > Lvl 12]
"Guys! Someone is nearing the towering tree!" A member of a different party shouted.
They would follow suit but a few Iron Beak Pink Maruda would stop them from advancing, they can only hope that they would not hog all the eggs.
They are slowly approaching the towering trees and after a few Iron Beak Pink Maruda, they finally entered the towering tree.
All of them panting heavily except for the purple girl who is panting with grace and majesty, flicking her gorgeous purple hair to the side.
"No time to lose. Kevin." The purple haired samurai looked at the Wind Magic User,
"You got it. The child of the wind. Protect your friend and lighten their body with your wind. Haste!" The wind user, who is supposed to be Kevin, chanted and pointed his hands at Kray.
[Haste: Lighten your body so you can run faster.]
Feeling his body lightening, he smiled.
'This will hasten the process.' He thought and started climbing like a lizard on a wall. A Iron Beak Pink Maruda tried to stop him but due to the positioning of the trees, the Iron Beak Pink Maruda's movements is not the same as it was in the open field. A cover would come from below with a form of an arrow, an occasional searing chains and wind blade.
Kray continued climbing with no care.