The group of 5 slowly and cautiously approached Val and Leo, they had their guard up and were wary, however, when they noticed it was just a boy, who looked a little younger than them and a small feline beast, their caution faded.
The group approached and a boy with a sword and shield came forward and asked in an arrogant voice,
"Who are you and what are you doing?"
When Val heard this, his face scrunched in annoyance. He hated arrogant kids like this, the group consisted of 5 kids a year or two older than him, probably around 12 years old. There were 3 boys and 2 girls, both girls were fairly cute but not as beautiful as Sav.
Val retorted the arrogant boy,
"Usually when someone asks your name, they give theirs first. Do you not even know common courtesy?"
Val's response pissed the boy off and he drew his sword. He seemed like he was ready to attack, but the other 4 behind him did not move.
Val noticed this and assumed that the other 4 did not want to fight and it was just the boy who was arrogant and hotheaded, therefore he continued his verbal assault,
"Oh I thought you were an adventurer but I guess I misjudged, you seem more like a bandit."
The boy's face went bright red and Val could have sworn he saw steam coming out of his ears. One of the girls, who had hazel hair, and bright green eyes, smirked and chuckled quietly, she was standing at the back of the group and clearly found Val's ridicule of her party member amusing.
The boy went forward and was about to attack Val, saying,
"You! Let's see if you can still say that when I'm done..."
Fortunately for him, he was stopped by the other female who was wearing light brown leather armor, she had blonde hair and big blue eyes, that resembled the ocean, and her most defining feature was her feline-like ears. Val noticed straight away that she was a beastman, or at least part beastman.
The female put her hand on the boy's shoulder and said to him,
"Calm down Jim, the boy is right, you are being rude and acting like a bandit."
The boy, whose name seemed to be Jim, stopped but did not calm down. In fact, it seemed he became angrier but he did stop his advances.
Val smiled at this and stated,
"At least one of you is smart, why would you allow the guy to talk first, he seems to be lacking in the brain department."
The brown-haired girl laughed even harder this time, the two other boys also found this amusing. Jim became even more enraged and if it wasn't for the blonde beastman girl's hand on his shoulder, he probably would have attacked. The blonde beastman girl frowned but did not say anything, Jim's four party members all thought exactly what Val had said, but unfortunately for them, Jim had become the party leader based on the rules they had all agreed on.
The blonde girl sighed and started introducing herself and her party members,
"*sigh*, I am Lizzy, as you can probably tell I'm half beast man, my father is of the Lion Tribe. This guy is Jim, he is our party leader, the girl behind me is Bindy, and the two other guys are Bobby and Dobby, they are twins."
Lizzy had a saber at her waist, Bindy had a bow and arrows on her back, Bobby and Dobby both had hammered on their shoulders. Val quickly analyzed the party before responding,
"I'm Val, I am half-elf, as you can probably tell from my hair and ears. This guy beside me is Leo, he's my familiar, and is a Light Ray Lion cub."
The adventurer party was surprised, Light Ray Lions were powerful beasts, and this was the first time they had met someone with the [Tame] skill. Lizzy was the most surprised though, as a member of the Lion Tribe, she was very aware of the Light Ray Lion, which was the second strongest Lion beast, second only to the extremely powerful and elusive, Silver Lion, which was an S-Rank beast.
S-Rank beasts were considered disasters and to be avoided at all costs. They were also extremely rare, with very few people ever seeing one and surviving. Currently, there was no known living Silver Lion, therefore, the Light Ray Lion was seen as somewhat like a mascot of the Lion tribe.
For this reason, Lizzy did not want to antagonize Val, and in turn Leo, and would have liked to befriend them, but it seems they had already gotten off on the wrong foot. She had to attempt to resolve the issue and fix the situation.
Lizzy was intrigued and asked,
"How did you [Tame] a Light Ray Lion?"
Val frowned when he heard this, he felt like this party was very invasive. They had approached him and started a fight and now they were questioning him.
Val stared at Lizzy for a few moments, and was about to reply when Jim interrupted,
"What do you think you are doing? Staring so intently at Lizzy like that, I should kick the shit out of you right here and now."
Val's eyebrow twitched, this guy was seriously pissing him off. It had been a long time since anyone had been able to get under his skin like this. Lizzy was surprised by Jim's outburst, she knew she had asked an intrusive question, that she probably shouldn't have, but she was very curious and was willing to annoy Val a little more to find out. She was aware of her looks and believed she would be able to smooth things over by being cute and affectionate with him later. She had not expected Jim to have another outburst and threaten Val though.
Val shifted his gaze to Jim, he gave Jim an evil smile and said,
"Try it, see what happens. But you better be prepared to lose an arm or leg. You can consider yourself lucky if I leave you alive."
Val then shifted his gaze back to Lizzy and responded to her question,
"That's none of your business."
Jim did not like that Val was not intimidated by him and even threatened him back. When Val did not answer Lizzy's question, Jim decided to attack.
He ran forward, he already had his sword and shield in hand, and yelled,
"Let's see how arrogant you are once I'm done with you."
Lizzy was taken by surprise by how everything escalated so quickly and did not have time to stop Jim. The other 3 still had not moved and did not plan to get involved. This was clearly Jim's fault, and 3 of them collectively thought this would be a good chance for Jim to be taken down a peg and for someone else to replace him as party leader.
The three had been watching Val from the back without moving or saying anything. They noticed his demeanor, behavior, and equipment. He was clearly not scared or intimidated by Jim, in fact, it was clear he had full confidence in his ability to defeat him. They also noticed that the equipment Val had was of better quality than their own. He was traveling in the forest without a party and with his tamed beast which was of a powerful species. Bindy also had a skill that increases her vision significantly, and she was able to see Val from very far away. She did not say anything to her group, but she had seen a baby dragon with Val previously, which she witnessed disappear in a portal. She guessed it was some sort of Spatial Skill, but regardless, she knew from the start Val was not someone to mess with.
She had hoped things would play out like this, she disliked Jim and hated that he was the party leader, she did not really want to be the leader, but she thought Jim was a horrible leader who would eventually get them killed. So she had wanted a situation where Jim embarrasses himself or gets himself significantly hurt, and has to step down as party leader.
The trio at the back watched as Jim rushed at Val, Val was calm, it was clear from his face that he was not concerned. They watched as Val drew his two short swords, one was a well-crafted metallic silver short sword, and the other was far more intimidating, with a pitch-black blade. They guessed it may be a magic weapon.
At this point, Lizzy realized Val was not a normal rookie adventurer, and she hoped he did not kill Jim. Lizzy was not the biggest fan of Jim, but she did consider him a friend and did not want any party member to get hurt. Everyone else had wanted Lizzy to be the party leader, as she was far more suited to the role than Jim, but as they had become a party based on the recommendation of the guild, they decided to follow the standard tradition of having the strongest member as the leader, and Jim was the strongest in terms of 1v1's because of his equal offensive and defensive Talent and Skills.
Lizzy wanted to stop Jim but she was too far away to stop the inevitable clash that everyone expected.
As Jim swung down his sword and prepared to block any counter-attack with his shield, Jim was surprised to see that Val did not attempt to block or dodge. Jim gave a smirk, thinking Val had frozen in fear but right before his sword struck Val, the boy in front of him disappeared.