A while after finishing off the last of the black-toothed wolf monsters.
"Whew, this was a lot harder than I expected..." Victor just a long sigh as his breathing steadied.
"Good thing we had William, who already has a class. Otherwise, we most likely would have ended up badly wounded," Vael said as he pulled the sword from the body of the black-toothed wolf monster, looking with a bit of respect and fear at William, who was their leader.
Noa agreed with his partner's words while looking at Alice and Kleint, who were drinking water: "But I didn't expect them to be so good at fighting. That woman is very good with a sword almost on William's level, and that guy, who didn't seem to be special, quickly finished off a lot of monsters."
Victor and Vael nodded in agreement, and before he could say anything, Noa added:
"Also, that guy seems to be a mage, but he's not very strong, or he might be saving energies for later, and that woman, I think she has the same class as William, but I'm not entirely sure since she uses two swords."
They again assisted with Noa's point of view, which was entirely accurate.
[Strength increased by 1]
[Stamina increase by 1]
[Vitality increase by 1]
[Agility increase by 1]
Oh, four stats increased by one; that's relatively new... Kleint looked surprised at the small windows in front of him; he hadn't expected four of his stats to increase simultaneously.
He is very conscious of his growth, which is much slower than a normal person's, but that doesn't worry him too much because he has a regressor as a companion and partners with a lot of potential for use.
This is quite confusing; when I didn't face that monster that was previously a follower of "He," who was much stronger than this monster, my stats didn't even show signs of increasing... But now I just killed a few "Normal" monsters, and they increased by four.
Could it be that it is my slow growth and poor talent that those monsters I kill turn into an experience like in online games, and once it fills up, my stats increase? Or is there another factor?
Kleint quickly cut his thoughts short, letting out a tired sigh because he knew now was not the time to dwell on that. He turned his gaze to where Alice was and watched as William slowly approached her.
"Miss, shall we take a break or continue?" asked William with a small smile.
Swinging her two swords and removing the blood from the blades, Alice casually said, "Let's not go on; we have to get back before evening falls."
"I understand."
After that, the group got organized and began to head back into the forest in silence, searching for supplies. While walking through the forest, feeling the soft breeze from time to time, William, on the way, tried to talk to Alice several times but was coldly ignored.
...
After walking for a long time, they arrived at a cave with a stone corridor. Still, with the difference that this one did not have torches that illuminated the place with crimson red, but it was of the normal ones and silently illuminated the corridor of stone.
"This looks like when we were at the starting point..." Victor said once he had finished looking at the place.
The others nodded as they felt the familiarity of the stone corridor. Without further delay, they entered the place, fully alert, so as not to be attacked by surprise by some monster.
As they walked carefully through the corridor, they reached a point where there were two different paths.
"What do we do?" asked Vael.
"Why don't we form two groups and explore this place, and in two hours, we don't find it in this place; what do you think, miss?" suggested William, looking directly into Alice's eyes and ignoring Kleint completely.
Here's your chance to finish them off! Kleint was not sorry to have been ignored but was happy that he could finally use the test subjects.
Since he had already checked their status windows, he knew none had class. Besides, the only danger I could see was William, who already had a class called [Magic Warrior], which could be a problem.
Because if he faced all of them together, it would be four against two, and they would be at a clear numerical disadvantage; although Kleint believed that Alice could deal with William, there were still Victor, Noa, and Vael, who outnumbered him. And the most likely outcome would be death.
But if we are separated, I can use the "Cursed Rosary" and finish them off... But there is a problem: I don't know what the side effects of the sealed item will be. Will they turn into a monster similar to the one in that room?
Kleint was worried about whether the Cursed Rosary would turn one of them into a monster. If that were the case, he would most likely die due to his lack of power. Besides, he can't hide in the shadows either because he doesn't know if the sealed item "Dark Veil Crimson Star" will work.
Sigh, this will not be as simple as I had thought; there are too many variables. Besides, there is also the possibility that "He" could turn one of them into one of "His" followers, and the thing would be even more problematic to solve... Kleint could not help but sigh at the thought of all the variables that could occur when using the Cursed Rosary on one of William's companions.
But despite all the variables and problems that could arise, he intended to use it anyway because he might simply be overthinking it, not seeing the problem.
"What do you think about it? Do you think it's a good idea to form two groups and go our separate ways?" Alice's question cut off the flow of Kleint's thoughts.
"Huh? Did you say something to me?"
"You're okay with that guy's suggestion?" Repeated Alice, pointing to William, who had a small smile.
"Sure, I don't see a problem. It's even a good idea, so we won't save too much time exploring this place that we don't know how big it is." Kleint agreed with William's suggestion.
"So, he and I will go the left way while you four go the right way. Is that okay with you?" Alice looked at the group, waiting for some of them to say something about it.
Keeping the same smile, William said, "I don't see a problem".
"Good, then we'll see you in two hours at this same spot."
...