It was a month after their summoning, and the top three summoned Heroes were finally allowed out of the castle, along with a contingent of the knights that had been training them.
The three Heroes that had gained the right to leave were Parker and two of her classmates, two boys named Dean and Wes.
Dean had gained the [Manipulation] skill during the summoning, but he had also been practicing martial arts since he was a child, and his [Martial Arts] skill had started out at level 5. Since his summoning, he'd been practicing archery to balance out his skill set, carrying knives around to maximize his [Manipulation] at close range. Now, he was a powerhouse at both short and long ranges.
On the other extreme were Parker and Wes, who relied on their powerful magic skills. Wes had the [Infernal Magic] skill, which allowed him to manifest some sort of demonic flames, while Parker had her Light Hero skill.
Parker's Light Hero skill contained [Light], and [Healing] magics, as well as resistance to most things that you would associate with the two, making it the unequivocal strongest skill among the entire class, even though her [Sword Mastery] was only at level 2.
"Alright, what's the plan?" Wes asked the knights escorting them. They'd left town and had been heading north for several hours on a dirt road.
"We've got reports of orc attacks on the highway between Archile and Ferren. You are going to kill them." The leader of the knights told them. Everyone noticed how the knights said 'you' rather than 'we,' but nobody bothered to say anything.
In Amale, the kingdom's upper brass were incredibly selfish, only concerned with themselves. They didn't stick their necks out for anyone else, and the heroes knew that the moment the fighting started, the knights would start running.
If the summoned heroes died in the ensuing brawl because the knights didn't help them, the knights would have some sort of excuse for sure. It made the heroes edgy, because not only could they not expect reinforcements, but this was also their first time in a real fight with their lives on the line.
"Here they come! Brace yourselves!" The knight leader shouted as four huge pig-men burst out from the shrubbery. They were each about seven feet tall, fat with pink skin, huge boar heads, and primitive loincloths.
By 'Brace yourselves,' the knight clearly meant something entirely different, because the only ones who actually braced themselves were Parker, Wes, and Dean. The knights themselves backed away, fearful.
The heroes weren't scared, though. Dean acted first, his prior experience in martial arts giving him an advantage. He tossed a knife at the orcs. It missed at first before spinning around in midair, landing in one of the orc's ears. The orc collapsed on the spot.
Meanwhile, Wes shot a stream of fire at a second orc's face. Since his [Infernal Flames] wasn't at too high of a level, it wasn't enough to kill the orc, but the orc was so distracted by the fire on its face that Wes was able to stab it in the stomach with his sword, causing it to fall forward, dying.
Parker killed the other two by making herself invisible and aiming for vital points. One slice to the neck and a stab right between the ribs. Without an ability to perceive things that can't be seen, nothing stood a chance against Parker's skill, even in its weak, low leveled state.
"That was pretty easy." Wes commented, working with the knights to flip over the orc that had fallen on his sword.
"Says the guy who lost his sword." Dean muttered,
"I held back." Wes argued, though nobody believed him.
"My motion detection magic's picking up a few more orcs nearby. I think we should go take care of them too." Parker said.
"I'm game." Wes said, pulling his sword out of the orc. Dean wordlessly unslung his bow.
They ended up hiding in the foliage near a cave that the orcs were using as a hideout. There were two orcs on guard, which wasn't that big of a deal, but the problem was the fact that there wasn't any sort of door in front of the cave. The moment that they killed the two orc guards, the other orcs would notice and start rushing out. Parker's detection magic couldn't show the exact number of orcs inside the cave, but she could tell that there were more than twenty inside the cave.
"I can't kill that many orcs at once, guys. I'll stay in the rearguard after I bump off the guards." Dean said.
"Wes, you should stay in the back too. Your fireballs are pretty strong, but you're pretty weak in close combat. I'll blind the orcs as they come." Parker offered to tank by herself.
"I've got this. Dean, just kill the guards. Parker, light the cave up." Wes said.
"Are you sure, Wes?"
"That's gonna be the general plan either way, Parker. If Wes wants to kill himself up front, just let him." Dean backed Wes's plan. Honestly, as long as Wes could defend himself with his fire, it would take a lot of the pressure off of Parker.
The end decision was to let Wes do whatever he wanted.
Dean started off by drawing his bow and shooting two arrows simultaneously. Neither arrow could have come close to hitting their marks if he was shooting normally, but with his [Manipulation], both embedded themselves into the eye of an orc, causing both guards to drop dead before they even knew what was happening.
Next, Parker drew her sword and showed herself in front of the cave, shouting as loudly as she could. Naturally, all the orcs started charging at her, so she pumped her light magic through her sword, blinding every single orc looking at her.
At its current low level, her light magic could only be used in a supportive manner, not for direct attacks, so blinding was the best she could do. Everything else came down to physical prowess, which wasn't her forte.
Then, something incredible happened.
Wes came out of the foliage behind Parker, holding his sword out in front of him.
"AARGH!!!!" He screamed as his muscles swelled. He charged into the cave with inhuman speed, swelling quickly to the same seven-foot size as the orcs were.
From there it was a bloodbath. Most of the orcs were blind, and they got in the way of the orcs that weren't blind as well. Against a cavern of bumbling orcs, Wes's Infernal form was like a force of nature. When his sword broke, he used his fists to blast holes in the orcs' bodies, cauterizing the wounds instantly with the heat from his [Infernal Magic]. Soon, the only one standing inside the cave was Wes, every single orc dead.
Then Wes fell down too.
"Wes!" Parker raced up to him. His muscles were rupturing underneath his skin, like tiny explosions all over his body. This must have been the price for using his [Infernal] power on his own body. She pumped as much MP into healing magic as she could, but it was touch and go. Even once she ran out of MP, Wes didn't wake up.