******** Visualization of the characters can be found in the comment above their names ********

The party:

Zophyr Alaw

Class Paladin

The party leader,

kind hearted person, hate injustice.

It's hard for him to take the first step

1.73 m height.

16 years old.

Sylviana Moonight

Mage - specializing in ice magic

She knows everything, just ask her,

shy in front of strangers,

stressed out quickly.

1.5 m height.

16 years old.

Dominic Sateel

Warrior - two handed sword specialist.

Doesn't afraid of anyone,

inspires an atmosphere of security,

reckless impatient.

1.8 m height.

16 years old.

Roobers Whitalero

Warrior - axes specialist.

Nice guy, has an idiotic smile,

brave and sensitive,

sometimes not emotionally stable.

1.68 m height.

16 years old.

Lorine Olider

Class Ranger

Charismatic and sociable person,

can keep herself calm even in danger.

tactless and somewhat disrespectful.

1.65 m height.

16 years old.

Chapter 1:

"They'll rape you" he said simply.

"No, they don't always rape, sometimes they just torture you to death... After two or three days of torture, you will just wait for the moment when they will put you out of your misery" said another man sitting next to him.

"Maybe you'll find comfort in the raping ha ha ha.!.!" They sat around the fire, well at least most of them sat, some stood and looked around, 10 people in total.

5 of them had a yellow metal tag on their left shoulder, we got only a white tag... and that's okay, we just started anyway.

It was already night, the fire lit up the whole area, we were in the forest, well not quite inside it, on the outer border of the forest, so the fire lit up a sparse area of trees.

"Stop scaring the girl!" she shouted in a grumbling voice, neither too loud nor too quiet, but it certainly wasn't the first time she had commented on them.

"Hee hee hee, so what do you want us to do? Should we lie to her? She definitely knows the stories, no one joins without knowing the risks"

"Umm, I'm not afraid. I mean, it sounds scary, and I... I know someone from my village who was kidnapped by the goblins... And..." Sylviana spoke a little hesitantly, even a little stutter, "And... What you said... They did it to her... But, but she was saved, her party members didn't abandon her, and she's okay today... The union paid her a lot and even released her from the service"

"From the goblins?! So she's really lucky, in all the year I've been serving I don't know anyone who survived after being kidnapped by goblins," said the black-haired girl with long, curly brown hair.

"She can still talk?"

"Come on Inzdel, you've just told us not to scare the girl, ha ha, and look what you doing..."

"How did we get to this issue in the first place?" Inzdel said a little nervously, took a long breath and continued, "We're supposed to guide them and help them get to know the battlefield, how to survive on their own, how to get along in the party and the dangers ahead—that's the mission." Whenever she mentioned one of the mission targets, she put her palms in front of her as a sort of calming motion.

"I'd love to.." I began to say and immediately interrupted, "Well, so tell us more, what to watch out for and how to act" Lorine was the one who interrupted me.

She was sitting next to me, well not really close, but still close to my left.

I looked at her, she looked seriously in the direction of Inzdel, it was very impolite to interrupt me.

I looked at her face... Not anymore, I'm staring at her chest... Not too big and not too small, at least from what I can see, her leather garment is hiding most of it.

She noticed that I was staring at her, moved her eyes in my direction, and immediately after that her face.

I looked into her eyes, her red eyes gleamed in the fire, it was a quick glance, I looked away immediately.

Oh, I've looked at her for too long, I don't want her to get the wrong impression... She's nothing special... So what if she looks pretty? I know girls like that, you can't trust them.

Inzdel was already in the middle of explaining, I didn't follow her, "...the fire. You don't have a fire magician so it doesn't matter, but it's still better not to waste his magic stamina on lighting the fire, especially not for a beginner party - If they surprise you, you will have a significant disadvantage, but you don't have a fire magician so it's not that important."

"You have 3 warriors - this is a significant advantage especially against orcs" Inzdel continued, "I am not a warrior, I am a paladin" I corrected her.

"She knows you're a paladin, when she says 'warrior' she means someone whose job is to be on the front lines of battle, what did they teach you in training? Your main job is to be at the frontline" Inzdel's party member standing next to her joined the conversation, he is a mage.

"No, it depends a lot on the party members, the composition of the party and the type of roles... you don't have support and he's the only one who can heal in the party, so he can't always be on the front..." Inzdel went on to explain but I interrupted her immediately

"We've already talked about it, Roobers will be the one to cover for Sylviana - Dominic and I will be on the front."

"Do you think I remember your names? You confused me, Sylviana, it's you" Inzdel pointed to the white-haired girl and she quickly nodded in the affirmative, "Great, it's very important to look after those who can't stand a melee fight, and now for the rest..." Inzdel continued.

Her party member with neither short nor long green hair rushed towards her "Inzdel! Inzdel! I think they're out" he spoke loudly but still tried not to make too loud a sound, "Great! everyone's on their feet!" I stood up immediately.

Is it happening?! Is it really happening?? Breathe deeply, easy now. This is our first step. I will succeed - we will succeed.

"Those creatures here aren't supposed to be strong or aggressive, we'll just make sure we don't have any unwanted surprises" She quickly moved towards the man with green hair, she drew her sword, a long and relatively narrow sword, still looking quite heavy.

She doesn't look particularly big or muscular, yet - she has already led dozens of missions as a warrior, I thought only boys wanted to be warriors.

My hammer hung from my right hip, I pulled it out and prepared myself, I already held the wooden shield in my left hand. We moved away from the fire, walked a few dozen meters, I heard them, the closer we got the louder the voices sounded.

"Um, Garyuk," I whispered to the green-haired guy

"Yes?"

"How did you know they were there? From that distance?" He pointed to his ear,

"I have good ears, I heard the buzzing" he said, and immediately put his finger to his lips, signaling me to be quiet.

Inzdel looked around, we can see them clearly now, we are still a little far away so they didn't notice us.

It was not completely dark, the light of the stars and the moon illuminated the area.

There were about 10, they were like brown rabbits with white pupils, so their eyes stood out especially at night. Arnaliles, that's what they were called.

They were scattered throughout the area, from time to time one of the Arnaliles would enter or exit a canal, there were several canals and they were also scattered throughout the area.

In the central area there was a round orange-brown object that seemed to glow in beats, it looked stuck in the ground.

After looking around the area for a short time, Inzdel approached me, "Zophyr, come on leader, take care of them."

I nodded affirmatively, my party was already by my side, all four looked at me seriously, well maybe not all, Roobers was still smiling strangely or maybe stupidly - was he nervous? It seems to me for a moment that this is his natural state. The rest looked ready, I looked at them, Lorine was to my right, I looked into her red eyes, I immediately looked away.

"So as we decided" I began to explain, "Dominic, you and I are at the front, Roobers you are covering for Sylviana"

"Come on Zophyr, it's just a few Arnaliles, are you afraid? Don't be afraid... We'll just go out and slaughter their shape" Dominic interrupted me "I'm not afraid, I just want to..." Dominic turned and started advancing, his long sword resting on his right shoulder while he held the grip in his right hand, "Let's go!" he said loudly and began to run towards the Arnaliles.

The rest ran after him, I joined too.

That's not how I imagined it, I'm the leader, not him, and why did everyone listen to him? sacrifice me to the dragons, it's really annoying.

We were already very close to the Arnaliles but it didn't seem to bother them.

Dominic swung his sword and cut the Arnalile next to him, the sword stabbed his body and cut through the abdomen, his blood spilling from the deep cut as he hummed loudly in his last seconds.

The Arnaliles no longer ignored, they began to attack Dominic, unlike rabbits the Arnaliles had sharp teeth and could jump to a great height, yet they were not fast or agile.

Dominic swung his sword again and landed it quickly, while Arnlil jumped at him and Dominic hit him in the head and landed him to the ground. Several of the Arnaliles advanced together and gathered together in an attempt to attack Dominic.

"Ga'A OO monGU"

Sylviana started the spell, she placed her white staff in front of her with the top pointed to the sky, she held it with both hands without moving her legs, at the edge of the staff small triangles began to appear they changed their shape into transparent-blue rhombus.

This is 'Shards of ice'.

"kHoo Gal RaAaD"

The rhombus shards began to grow, it looked like they hovered slightly above the top edge of her staff, at least that's what it looked like, but if we looked closer, you could see an almost transparent lines coming out of the top edge of the staff and connected to the ice shards.

As far as you can call what she's holding a staff, it's actually a piece of hollow wood that has a few small holes at its top edge, and 2 big holes in the area where the hands hold it.

"Tald Tor SHarroW"

Sylviana at that moment waved, or almost threw the staff towards the Arnaliles, there were three Arnalils.

The ice shards left the staff and flew to the Arnaliles, 4 shards of ice flew quickly.

The Arnaliles did not move, the shards did not interest them, the only one who cared about them was Dominic, one of the shards hit one of the Arnaliles in the head, the shard penetrated his head and killed him, another shard scratched the front right leg of the other Arnalile, and the other two shards flew too far and missed the targets.

Now the Arnaliles no longer ignored Sylviana and 3 of them jumped to her direction.

Sylviana was breathing heavily, this magic seemed to exhaust her a lot, "Ahhh!" she shouted in panic at the sight of the three Arnaliles leaping towards her, she tried to walk backwards but tripped and fell. Arnalile A came to her and tried to bite her on the shoulder, she raised her left hand to defend herself and Arnalile A bite her arm.

"Aye!" she cried out in pain, blood began to drip from her arm as she quickly waved her left hand to knock off the Arnalile, finally Arnalile A loosed her arm and fell on his back, but immediately turned around and stood up.

The other two Arnaliles, Arnalile B and Arnalile C, jumped on Silviana, she dropped the staff and protected her face, falling on her back while the Arnliles stabbed their teeth into her hands.

She screamed in pain.

The two Arnaliles kept biting and inflicted some deep wounds on her hands, blood began to drip down her face, on her glasses, it looked like a lot of blood.

Please save me, it can't be, I don't want to die... Please someone help me, they want to bite my neck. They want to kill me, no no, please don't.

It happened too fast, she was far away from me, it shouldn't happen during the training stage, where's Inzdel?! Help us!!!

He grabbed them and flung them one by one, a few meters from Sylviana.

"Leave her despicable creatures!" exclaimed Roobers, standing between the Arnaliles and Sylviana.

Attached to his thighs were a number of small axes, maybe 6 or 8, small tomahawk axes, he pulled out two of them holding one in each hand "Now you will get what you deserve!" and threw them at the two Arnaliles.

The axes hit the Arnaliles but only their wooden body hit them, the Arnaliles buzzed loudly, they seemed to be angry.

Or at least that's how it seems to me...

Now they're angry? Sylviana stuck a piece of ice in the head of one of them and Dominic killed two of them. Strange creatures.

Sylviana sighed in pain.

Roobers eyes looking much more serious, his idiotic smile disappearing from his face. He pulled out his large axe that was behind his back, swung the axe and landed it on Arnalile B, his body was almost torn in half, swung the axe again, this time on Arnalile C, but it just jumped and with his teeth scratched Roobers forehead.

At the same time an arrow stuck in Arnalile A, "I'm with you, come on!" said Lorine as she aimed the bow at Arnalile farther away.

I reached Sylviana, she was still moaning in pain, she continued to lie on her back with her eyes closed and she was writhing from side to side.

The blood kept flowing from my hands. I've never seen so much blood, it's terrifying, my stomach hurts, to breathe I need to breathe and relax.

"Sylviana, relax, I need you to be calm, it will be easier for me to heal you"

I put down the hammer and brought my right hand close to hers, she stopped writhing.

I concentrated, just like in training, glowing golden dots of light came out of my palm, they covered her hands and then fell apart and disappeared, her wounds healed, the bleeding stopped.

Roobers hit Arnalile C with the axe head, but not the sharp part, requiring him to hit him several times until Arnalile hummed his last voice.

"Are you okay?" I asked Sylviana, breathing heavily, it was really exhausting.

"Sylviana! I can't believe it, it's just my fault! A gentle girl like you, hurt like that? Just because of me?" Roobers arrived and immediately helped Sylviana to her feet.

Lorine fired another arrow at Arnalile who was far away from them but close to Dominic, the arrow flew quickly and scratched his ear.

"It's fin... I'm..." She took a deep breath, her hands were a little shaken.

"I'm okay now, thank you for helping me" "Don't thank me! I don't deserve this!"

"Roob... Roobers, it's really okay"

A loud breath or a loud exhale came from behind me, Lorine exhaling like that? Really not gentle for a girl.

"Where are you running away?! Cowardly creatures! I was just warming up!" exclaimed Dominic.

By this time he had managed to eliminate one more Arnalile, the remaining Arnaliles jumped towards their tunnels.

Since when do Arnaliles run away from battle? Did the instructor in training said anything about it? I have a vague memory of it...

"They never run away from a fight" Silvana said as she cleaned her glasses of blood

"Unless…"

I looked at the bouncing Arnaliles, and again I heard the same breath or more like a growl.

I looked at Lorine, she looked back at me, it's hard for me to take my gaze off, there's something in her red eyes.

"What?" asked Lorine

In the background I saw Inzdel, where have you been all this time? We needed your help…

She runs towards Lorine, clutching her sword.

Now you're joining the battle?? Now are you coming to help? We manage on our own, thank you. We smuggled out all the Arnaliles.

Now all that's left is to take the loot.

"We are fi..."

He jumped out of the darkness, he aimed at Lorine, his eyes were dark but still somehow glowing, he was bigger, bigger than they had described in training.

He looked like a black fur ball.

Inzdel was already standing between them, she obliged him to focus on her before moving on to Lorine.

He bit Inzdel's leg or rather her thigh, she landed her sword on his back but it only caused a scratch.

He immediately returned to the darkness.

Inzdel jumped on her left leg, it seemed painful or difficult for her to use her right leg.

She was bleeding, the injury looked serious.

The guy with the green hair, Garyuk, arrived just a second later, he was holding a silver wooden wand, looking perforated with many small holes all along the staff.

"How much?" she asked

"Just one"

"And he's really big, probably the leader," Garyuk continued

"Dark Predator is never alone"

"I see him!" one voice called, it sounded close to where the dark predator had emerged from.

"He's leaving!" called another voice.

"Listen carefully now" Garyuk pointed the staff toward Inzdel, and glowing, golden dots appeared from inside the staff, wrapping around Inzdel's right tight.

"Zophyr, you and your party will stick to each other and follow me"

Inzdel's leg healed, and the glowing dots faded soon after.

It didn't seem to influence Garyuk, how does he do it so easily? It was really exhausting, so, is that the difference between support and paladin?

Or maybe it's just a matter of experience, after a year I'll do it as easily as he does?

Dominic immediately joined us, the Arnaliles were all gone.

"You'll take the back, I'll be at the front" I said, marking Dominic.

He nodded slightly and didn't say a word.

"He ran away, why don't we just leave him?" asked Lorine

"He'll come back while we're asleep... And he won't be alone"

Garyuk lifted his staff, and slowly his staff began to glow in yellow color, perhaps looking like sunlight, he lit the way for us.

We started moving forward, Inzdel led, Garyuk followed her, me Lorine, Roobers and Sylviana walked side by side and finally Dominic.

That was the order, Inzdel's other 3 members of her party walked parallel to us in the inner area of the forest, it was hard to see them, but if I focused enough I could see their silhouettes.

I looked back every now and then Roobers idiotic smile returned to his face.

We were already quite far from the fire.

"It's sophisticated, it's rare to see a dark predator behave this way" Garyuk said

"He makes sure we don't lose him, it must be a trap" Inzdel replied

I couldn't see the dark predator, I think Garyuk is blocking my vision, or not?

We followed him quickly and carefully, while he was still keeping a long distance from us.

Garyuk and Inzdel were always looking around and examining their surroundings, as if they were expecting something.

Well, did they say he wasn't alone, or wasn't he attacking alone? Why don't we just run and catch it? Or shooting at him with a bow and arrow? Or use magic? Inzdel's party has a lightning magician, he can easily hurt him, can't he?

The distance between us didn't seem very large.

Suddenly, Garyuk stopped.

Again I heard a loud breath or a strong exhalation or even a growl, only this time I heard a few of them.

Inzdel looked in the direction of her three teammates and immediately returned her gaze to the foreground.

Howls could be heard in the area, they sounded very close.

Did I step on something, a tree? I broke it, maybe a kind of stone, no... A stone doesn't sound like that.

"What's that?!" I jumped back and pushed Lorine slightly.

"Maybe you'll be careful?"

It was a bone, a big bone that I broke.

Since all the focus was on the dark predator, I didn't notice that there were bones around us, a lot of them.

"There are a lot of bo..." I said and interrupted myself, I also saw a torn shirt.

"It's..?" asked Lorine

Broken body armor, a shoe, a sword and a wooden shield were scattered throughout the area.

They didn't seem to attach any importance to it, maybe they missed it too..?

Inzdel's party focused on the beings advancing towards us. They seemed to ignore us.

Out of the darkness emerged a number of dark predators, 6 to be precise, they were smaller than the dark predator that attacked us.

They looked like black wolves with a few dark gray stripes, their fur was long and inflated. So inflated that they seemed like fur balls.

Their pupils were dark and slightly glowing in white.

They growled loudly, baring their sharp teeth.

"Daril!" shouted Inzdel, moving quickly toward the dark predators.

"HeE Szee Eiee"

Daril, the mage in Inzdel's party, started the spell.

He was quite far away from us so I couldn't really see him. Suddenly a spark appeared, I saw Daril's face for a brief moment.

"Ho Noo So O"

The frequency of the sparks increased, each spark appearing to be a kind of lightning in white light, with a short tail above Daril's staff.

"Ney NeHi Zee Fha"

He turned his top of the staff towards 2 dark predators that were next to each other.

I saw for a moment a flash of character, was it one of Inzdel's party, Horan? I think that's how he's called.

Does he appear and disappear? On each appearance, he seems to be closer to the dark predators.

A long lightning bolt quickly came out of Daryl's headquarters, it hit the 2 dark predators, they took the blow, their bodies seemed to shake slightly.

Garyuk raised his staff and aimed Inzdel, towards her feet, more precisely, A kind of tiny green triangles were sent out of his staff, they flew and lodged in the back of Inzdel's legs.

How does it actually help?

Horan immediately appeared next to one of the dark predators that was struck by lightning, with his right hand he held a dagger, he stuck the dagger blade in the throat of the dark predator and immediately pulled it out.

The dark predator remained standing trembling for one more moment, it's dark blood, a kind of dark red, burst rapidly from its throat and trickled to the ground, and then it collapsed.

Horan immediately proceeded towards the Dark Predator B, who was also struck by lightning magic.

The other Dark Predators weren't going to stand aside and watch, they ran quickly towards Horan, looking like they'd catch up with him before he reached Dark Predator B.

Inzdel had already reached them, "Woah!!" she cried out or growled loudly, her voice echoing.

I know it, it's obviously a taunt, it makes them focus on her.

It is taught in training, if you are at the forefront it is a basic competence for you.

Her taunting even clouded my mind for a moment, I felt it.

The four dark predators changed direction and ran to Inzdel.

They tried to bite her but she dodged and hit them with a sword, one by one, the dark predators suffered minor scratches, Inzdel was not hurt.

"Should we help them?" asked Dominic

"I don't think they need our help" I replied "they seem to deal with it"

"She's so amazing" Lorine added.

I agree, she's really amazing, is everyone with a yellow tag that amazing? Even when we reach the yellow tag, will we be so amazing? You can get a lot of girls like that, it certainly impresses them.

Horan slit the throat of Dark Predator B. It will do the job.

On our left, he suddenly emerged, attacked Garyuk, it was the dark predator that attacked us in the beginning, the leader.

Garyuk hit him hard with his staff, but it didn't help, he bit his right hand which caused Garyuk to lose his grip on the staff.

The glowing light his rod provided dissipated in an instant.

The green triangles on Inzdel's legs dissolved, she felt it, and immediately turned her gaze to Garyuk.

Her eyes radiated panic.

"Garyuk! Help him!" she shouted.

A dark predator tried to bite her but she evaded.

The leader looked much more threatening up close, his sharp teeth, his threatening growls, his aggressiveness, and he was really big.

He jumped on Garyuk and caused him to fall on his back.

My hands are shaking, is he dead? Will the predator finish what it started? Where will he go next? Us?

I have to help him, I know I have to help him, but why? Someone tell me why? Why can't I move??

The leader stuck his teeth into Garyuk's throat.

He swung his axe and landed it on the Dark Predator, but the latter jumped back and dodged, this achieved the goal, Roobers did not hesitate and stood between the Dark Predator and Garyuk "Despicable monster! Stay away!"

His muzzle was full of blood, his teeth were bare, and blood was dripping from them.

Immediately after him Dominic joined in and cut the leader, but he did not succeed, his skin was hard and thick, much thicker than the skin of the Arnaliles.

I looked at Garyuk and a lot of blood gushed from his mouth, he choked, every time he tried to breathe he spat more blood out of his mouth.

He tried to press his throat.

I ran to him and threw the hammer to the ground.

2 figures ran towards us quickly, one of them was Daril, the other was a warrior with a sword and a shield made of metal.

First the throat, I put my hand over Garyuk's throat, he choked and spat blood again.

The dots don't appear, I can't... I have to succeed, he will die, and it will be my fault.

Concentrate, I can, I can! I feel it coming out, but I see blur, my sight deteriorating.

Golden and glowing dots began to surround Garyuk's throat, soon dissolved, his face was full of blood.

I'm panting heavily, the world is spinning, everything is moving from side to side, as if I've quickly turned around 20 times, no, not 20. It feels like 100 times.

I have to focus, I have to focus.

My sight is back to normal, the world is still spinning, maybe a little less.

"Now the Hand"

I put my hand on Garyuk's right hand, it was shaking, I couldn't focus.

Is this my limit? Is that the limit of my ability? In training I could 3 or even 4 times.

Garyuk coughed several times and lifted himself off the ground, he motioned for me with his left hand to leave it and moved my hand away.

He placed his left hand on his right, immediately golden and glowing dots appeared and surrounded his hand.

Lorine shot an arrow at the dark predator, the arrow stuck in his rear leg. It was strong enough to penetrate his thick skin.

"Yay!" exclaimed Lorine, immediately firing another arrow, but it missed the mark.

Garyuk breathed a sigh of relief and raised his staff.

"Zaid, I'm doing fine, go!" said Daril, and immediately Zaid, who was the warrior with the sword and shield, sped towards us.

He raised his shield to face level.

Garyuk lifted his staff, small green triangles appeared and flew to the back of Zaid's legs, clinging to him.

The dizziness almost disappeared.

Zaid looked faster. At least that's what it looks like. Is that the speed ability?

He and his shield collided with the dark predator, he tried to slip back but his injured leg seemed to fail him.

Zaid pounded his head. He immediately cut his back, about the area where Inzdel had hit him.

Then I knew what to do, I just moved, I don't know why, I felt I had to.

I picked up the hammer and landed it on the leader's head, he stumbled.

I pound him again.

"Ahhhh!" another thump and another thump.

I heard some cracked noise.

I knocked on his head repeatedly, is he already on the ground? I gasped, another knock and another blow.

The hammer head was full of blood, dark blood.

"Enough! That's enough!" she put her hand on my right shoulder.

I stopped, it was Lorine, she immediately removed her hand.

"He's dead"