Let This Grieving Soul Retire! Woe is the Weakling Who Leads the Strongest Party 1

Just before the shot fired, a super-cool line emerged from my lips. “Too bad for you; I’ve got seventeen lives.”

Treasure hunters were submerged in a world of talent. Human beings themselves were weak. Their physical abilities, especially, were among the worst of the many life-forms out there. They weren’t made to traverse these cruel treasure vaults or fight monsters and phantoms.

To bend this law of nature, a hunter needed certain vital aptitudes, such as a high mana material absorption rate. Thus, even in this age where hunters were lauded to the heavens, there was never an overabundance of them. In my case, misfortune lay in the fact that I only realized this after I became a hunter.

Fortunately, I was the only one in my group of friends who lacked aptitude. Grieving Souls could easily raid treasure vaults, even when I was excluded. Each time they brought home wealth and fame, it would lift me up alongside them. So even with no aptitude, courage, motivation, dreams, hope, or luck, I was still alive.

Much like the Shooting Ring, Safety Rings was a popular ring-type Relic. If I were attacked, they would surround me with a somewhat dense barrier for a set amount of time. Perhaps that explanation was too obscure; basically, these Relics would only protect me from a single attack.

Though all Safety Rings shared the same name, they varied in barrier density and effective time. Some were more expensive and rarer than others as well. However, I didn’t want to die, so I had just bought as many as I could find. At the moment, I had a total of seventeen. Together, they were worth enough to buy two or three more clan headquarters.

Typically, super-high-class hunters kept one or two of these on hand just in case. In this vast empire, I don’t think any other man wore as many of these bad boys on the daily as I did. Naturally, a man only had ten fingers, so I had to keep the rest in my bag. Still, the effects were going strong. Incidentally, I never would’ve used that terrifying Night Hiker if I hadn’t had these on hand.

They weren’t infallible, though. Safety Rings’ barriers lasted, at best, a second. Typically, only a fraction of a second. Once activated, all of the mana within them was consumed and it became just a normal ring. I had activated a ton of them hitting walls on the way here, so who knew how many attacks I could take before these guys flattened me instead? We had to get out of dodge before then; saying I had seventeen lives had been a teensy bit of an exaggeration.

The greatsword-wielding wolf quickly reacted to my blue bullet, crouching down just slightly to evade. I frowned; it was like the wolf knight had known it was coming.

“He dodged it!” Rhuda cried.

The blue bullet sailed over the wolf’s head and, not long after, there was a dull thud as a powerful impact sent the wolf crashing into the floor. The cave trembled as it landed. Although it had dodged, the bullet had boomeranged in midair and smacked him in the back of the head. The wolves were shaken by this development.

Without turning away from them, I shouted, “Tino, run!”

“Hm? Oh, yes, sir!”

On my order, Tino and the rest of her party bounded off. The wolves looked only at me, not bothering to pursue them.

“Shooting Ring” was a generic term for Relics that shot magic bullets. Shock-Shooting Rings’ bullets came with a powerful shock wave on impact. At maximum charge, they could shoot up to seven bullets. Flashy as it was, though, it just wasn’t that powerful. The wolf who’d fallen down after getting hit in the head was probably just surprised.

Shooting Rings came in a multitude of types, but none of them were strong enough to defeat phantoms. At best, they could be used as a diversion. The wolf on the floor pushed himself up with his hands and slowly rose. As expected, he had no stand-out injuries.

All four of them fanned out around me: two front-liners, two back-liners. They were pretty balanced. I watched them carefully, and when my eyes fell back on the one with the gun, I grimaced. That thing’s dangerous! I’m really bad against rapid-fire weapons.

Here I thought I had scared them with Sitri’s slime, but they were probably too pissed by my counterattack to care. Their eyes showed about 10% fear, 30% rage, 30% enmity, and 30% caution. Note that I pulled these numbers right out of my ass.

The first thing to consider was making time for Tino to escape before me. As long as I was alone, I could just take flight again in the worst-case scenario. With a weapon, I could at least distract the enemy for a little while.

Laughing like an idiot, I pulled the sword Relic from its sheath on my back... or I tried to, at least, but my hand grasped only air.

I tried a few times to grab it, but all I made contact with was a crossbow Relic. It had the ability to guide missiles, which I had used to guide both myself and the magic bullets from my Shooting Rings—despite the crossbow itself shooting neither of them. I called it the “Always Hitty Boy” (although it didn’t necessarily always hit).

No way. Did I drop it?!

The sheath was there, but no sword. I retraced my journey here. The whole way, I had been desperately trying to avoid hitting things, so who knew where I’d dropped it? What a shame. That thing was really expensive. Meh, I guess it wouldn’t really have helped me get out of this anyway.

The wolves warily watched my weird flailing.

“Master? What are you doing?!” Tino asked me from the entrance.

Weren’t you supposed to be running?! It wasn’t just her, either; the others were hanging around there as well. I told you to run, dammit! Besides, “What are you doing?!” is what I should be asking myself! What the hell am I even trying to do? I literally dropped a freaking Relic in a treasure vault. That can’t be chalked up to bad luck. Am I stupid?

You know what, yeah. I’m just stupid.

Apparently trying to overcome his fear, the club-wielding phantom roared and took a step toward me. The ring on my right pinkie, Red Alert, emitted heat when danger was near. It was warming up my finger, but I couldn’t evade the attack. The club came down, ready to crush me, but it was repelled by a barrier.

Wow, this sucks. I’m even worse off than I thought. I couldn’t move, so even though I knew I was fine, I was still terrified. The phantoms shuddered, incredulous at how I was still standing after that club swing. It’s okay, dudes. I can’t believe it, either.

The Hounding Chain hanging at my waist rattled, trembling at its owner’s precarious situation. It was a real valuable item, so I’d hate for it to be broken, but it wasn’t worth more than my life. It ought to be a good way to stop them.

I removed the chain from my belt. All charged up and ready to serve, the chain flew into the air and sprang at the club-wielding wolf like a snake. Again, it wasn’t strong enough to defeat the enemy, but this was the most annoying thing a huge phantom could deal with. It wrapped around the wolf’s legs and knocked it off balance.

Having no experience with such a thing, the other three knights were on guard. Yep, it’s pretty scary. I felt that way when I first saw it, too.

One Hounding Chain alone wouldn’t stop them all, though. Besides, those ranged weapons looked deadly. The world was full of terrifying stuff. If I just ran away, would they follow me?

The wolves were scared of... well, not me, but Sitri’s slime. But there was unsuppressed rage in their eyes, too.

I just wanted to run. Forget the rescue mission; it was time to go home. Thus, I spread out my hands and activated my Shooting Rings.

There were a lot of famous ring-type Relics out there, but not many people knew that they could be divided into two groups: the kind that you had to wear in order to use, and the kind that you could just have on your person. The Shooting Ring was the latter.

Li’l Gilbert’s jaw dropped as countless lights appeared in my hands. I had activated every single one of the Shooting Rings stuffed in my hip pouch. One positive of ring-type Relics was that they were lighter than most other Relics—and cheap to boot. With a little bit of money and effort, you could get a whole stash like mine.

The color of each Shooting Ring’s bullets depended on the type. The countless colored lights in my hands may have been eye-catching, but practically speaking, they were very weak. Still, the wolf knights were shaken. The appearance of these bullets alone made them look like normal magic attacks, so they were wary. Unfortunately for them, this would be impossible to evade. Typical magic bullets flew in a straight line, but I had my Always Hitty Boy with me.

As I let the bullets loose, they started tracing crazy arcs all over the place as they flew toward the knights. The wolves dispersed in an attempt to outrun them, but I controlled the arcs so that the projectiles would follow. I didn’t even give them a chance to swing their weapons.

Either deciding they had no escape or assuming they were homing missiles, the knights all dropped down to the floor. They turned their backs up like turtles, so I mercilessly rained bullets upon them.

“Holy shit,” Li’l Gilbert blurted, mesmerized by my street performance.

“So that’s what a level 8 can do?” Rhuda murmured.

The Great Greg watched in awe. Even Tino’s eyes sparkled with joy. I appreciated their approval. It would’ve been even better if they’d tipped, but whatever. More than that, I wished they’d just run.

The bullets were all direct hits on the wolves’ heads, arms, shoulders, eyes, and masks. They made plenty of crazy sounds as they struck, some burning, some freezing, some numbing, some repelling. Every single Shooting Ring I carried was unique. Low growls rumbled in the phantoms’ throats, making them sound like the beasts they were.

When the magical light faded, darkness returned to the chamber. Though my “magic” was flashy and looked powerful, it had one fatal flaw: it was really, really weak.

As everyone watched with bated breath, the wolf knights rolled onto their feet and stood up like nothing had happened. There wasn’t a single scratch on them.

“But he hit them with so many attacks!” Rhuda protested hoarsely, sounding like she was about to cry.

All four phantoms made similarly confused noises. It wasn’t my fault, though. The vast majority of Relics weren’t made to inflict killing blows. Weapon Relics were a different story, but their effectiveness was based on the user’s abilities for the most part. A talentless street performer like myself couldn’t use them very well.

Once they’d confirmed that they were safe, the wolves glared at me, enraged by my tickling session. Didn’t work, huh?

I had even fired off numbing and sleep-inducing bullets. Though I’d thought they might work, it seemed they’d been nullified. To be fair, they had been made for use on people, not inhuman apparitions.

My bag of tricks was nearly empty now. The situation was getting worse and worse.

“Aah, fine. Good grief. I really didn’t wanna have to use this.”

In desperation, I ripped the metallic capsule off of my neck. It was a little larger than my pointer finger. The wolves jumped back, apparently just now remembering that I had it. They really had been scared of the capsule instead of me. But hey, I had already guessed as much. If we were all gonna die here, we might as well die swallowed up by a slime (I think? I didn’t want to know the details, so I had never asked).

With shaking fingers, I unscrewed the cap and peeked inside the capsule before prepping to throw it. I rubbed my eyes and checked again. Frowning, I fearfully poked my finger inside. Tino and the others watched me, worried.

With a nod, I screwed the cap back on. Then, I swung my arm hard. Simultaneously as I lobbed the capsule at them, I fired the Shock-Shooting Ring in their direction. The wolves panicked and scrambled away from the landing zone. While confirming that the controlled bullet’s path would land where I wanted it to, I ran over to Tino.

“Hurry!”

As they saw me approach, the party finally turned and started to run. The metallic capsule bounced off the floor. I heard a snarl from behind us, but now wasn’t the time to worry about that. After all, we needed to hurry out before they realized it was empty.

What was up with that? Where’d the contents go? Whew, spooky.

I ran, squeezing out every last bit of my strength. I just moved my legs, trying to regulate my breathing along the way. How long had it been since I last ran? Along the way, I didn’t have it in me to look back. I just ran and ran through the dim corridor, feeling the cold air caressing my cheeks.

The Great Greg, Li’l Gilbert, Rhuda, and Tino were just ahead of me. Despite running as fast as I could, the distance between us wasn’t closing. Wait. Are they going slower out of consideration for me?

In front of me, Gilbert was running just fine, even with that giant greatsword in his hands. He turned to me and frowned. Despite being in big trouble before I arrived, he looked perfectly composed now. No way. Did he recover while running?

“They’re gonna catch up at this rate,” Gilbert said. “We’d better hurry—”

“Shut up, stupid! Krai’s being considerate of Tino because she’s hurt!” Rhuda snapped.

“Oh, dang, my bad. Sorry.”

Uh, did she get hurt? Wait, so my top speed is only as fast as an injured Tino’s? Come on, I’m not slow. Tino’s just fast. Or am I actually being considerate like Rhuda said, and I didn’t even notice?

My feelings were hurt, but the petty grievance calmed me down. After listening for any suspicious noises behind us, I stopped. I didn’t have a Thief’s skills, but Tino would’ve said something if we were still being chased. We must have shaken them off, then.

Seeing that I had stopped, the party also came to a halt. They were surprisingly obedient; guess they’d gotten along well during the raid.

“Uh, are we good?” Li’l Gilbert asked.

“Looks like we shook ’em off. Damn, that was close. You saved our hides.” The Great Greg thanked me, but honestly, I should’ve apologized.

For now, though, I had to get myself together. Resisting the urge to vomit, I relaxed my rapid breathing and looked at Tino.

Under the weight of my gaze, she clutched her shoulders as if afraid. “Master, I...”

“Hey, Krai? Tino really, um, did her best. Without her, we would’ve gone down long before you arrived.” For some reason, Rhuda spoke like she was defending her.

“It’s okay. Hey, I’m sorry. I just wish ‘sorry’ was enough to make up for all this.”

They didn’t have to tell me; I knew from one look at her that she’d done everything she could. Tino had clearly been an active participant, as her usually well-kempt hair was a mess, and her face was extremely pale. Her black shorts were torn along the right thigh, leaving her white skin visible. The contrast was really attention-grabbing and... kind of sexy.

Having noticed my leering, Tino suddenly pulled up her shorts, revealing her thighs. Girl, are you seriously doing that here? They’re already short shorts. I can see your damn underwear now.

Tino looked away, embarrassed.

Watching Tino purse her lips, Li’l Gilbert mused, “Thousand Tricks, you can even heal people?”

Oh, this is about her wound! At least tell me that, c’mon! Obviously I didn’t notice! I thought this was one of her usual weird tricks.

The whole reason we’d stopped was so I could recover, anyway.

She showed me her toned thighs. Her veins were just barely visible, but no wounds. Even if it wasn’t visible on the surface, she could still be hurt. After all, despite her being much faster than me, she and I had been running at the same speed.

Of course, I’d brought a healing Relic. I wouldn’t dare step outside without one. I removed the silver cross necklace, Healing Faith, from my neck and placed it against Tino’s thigh. Blue light emanated from it and flowed into her body. Her expression relaxed.

Really sorry for not realizing!

“Thank you, Master. It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

I mean, I still needed Tino to keep doing her best for me.

After watching the scene, Li’l Gilbert said with relief in his voice, “Oh, it’s just a healing Relic.”

What’s wrong with it all being Relics? Huh, you little shit? Got a problem?! If we hadn’t been deep inside a treasure vault, I would’ve been so pissed that I’d hightail it back to clan HQ.

“Krai, did you take down those wolf knights?” the Great Greg asked, glancing nervously toward the chamber.

If pressed to say, no. There’s no way I took them down.

Wolves had good noses, so they had probably been terrified of the slime smell on the capsule. Well, I didn’t know if slimes smelled like anything, but that was my best guess. By now, they were probably going mad with rage. They’d been fooled by an empty capsule, and their prey escaped. Thus, the only option for us now was to keep fleeing. Things were pretty gross back there, but once we escaped the treasure vault, those phantoms shouldn’t follow us out.

I was convinced that the rescue targets were dead by now. No point in trying to save them if it ended with us dead, too.

I sighed and stretched. It felt bad to lose my poor sword, but at least I had my life. I wasn’t sure whether the Hounding Chain would return to me, though. Once I got back to the clan house, I’d have someone go and fetch it for me.

“Nah, but that was the ideal action for the time being. We shouldn’t worry about it. For now, let’s get moving.”

“Uh, sure.”

Now, where were we, and where was the exit? I walked silently at the front. Nobody said a word, probably because of the fatigue.

According to the map I had checked beforehand, the White Wolf’s Den was full of thin, branching passageways, like an ant nest. To put it simply, you could go on forever seeing the same scenery and have no idea where it would take you. It wasn’t a big treasure vault by any means, but it was entirely possible that we were just going through the same passageways twice.

Actually, why am I at the front? I’m not a Thief. Isn’t this a Thief’s job? Why am I doing this when this party has two Thieves?

I tried stopping to let them go ahead of me, but when I stopped, they stopped as well. Thus, I was stuck at the front the entire way.

What happened to your usual initiative, Tino?

I looked back at her, but whenever we made eye contact, she looked away. It was like she was rejecting me, like she was saying, I don’t want to talk to you, Master. Please go die. How could my poor, beloved Tino look at me like that? Maybe I should’ve gotten on the ground and begged after all, despite being in this dangerous vault?

I couldn’t do anything about it now, so I continued my blind march forward. Sometimes, if I felt like it, I randomly picked a side path. The one saving grace here was that, amazingly, we didn’t run into any enemies along the way. Maybe Tino was casually guiding me in directions that were free of phantoms? We occasionally heard roars and howls from within, but they were still distant.

At least, I think they’re distant. Maybe they’re not? Gee, sure hope they are.

Even after walking for some time, we didn’t reach the exit. I figured the direction itself was probably correct, at least. This was why I hated cavern-type vaults. Maybe it was time to get on the floor for Tino.

As I fretted, Li’l Gilbert started to sound irritated. “Uh, hey. I dunno if you’re not telling us on purpose, so sorry in advance, but... where are we going? We gettin’ outta here or what?”

The guy was awfully meek about it. Unfortunately, I had no idea! Although our destination was obviously the exit.

Before I could say as much, Tino quickly intervened. “Gilbert, learning to read Master’s thoughts is a part of your training. Also, we’re not going toward the exit. The rightmost path isn’t connected to the exit, no matter how far you go. To leave this place, we’ll need to go through the chamber again.”

“Oh, uh... Is this really the time to be training?”

“Oh, uh...” Same, Li’l Gilbert. Same.

If nothing else, I had been trying to take us to the exit.

Okay, so the path we took doesn’t lead to the exit. And wait, that was the boss chamber? No wonder those phantoms seemed weirdly strong. So, what, does that mean we have to turn around and go back?

Also, what the hell, Tino? You were using this situation to “train”? If we weren’t going for the exit, where else would we be going? What else is worth seeing here?

This was why I had so much trouble with “disciplined” people.

“But um, Krai? Do you think maybe you could tell us where we’re going soon?” Rhuda asked timidly. She was starting to sound pitiful.

That’s a deep goddamn question there, Rhuda. All my life, I’ve never known where I was headed. No milestones, no guides, nothing. If anything, I’m becoming a guide of what not to do.

Anyway, might as well make a casual U-turn. We’ve been walking for a while now, so maybe those wolves are gone.

Oh, how I wished I could U-turn my whole life around. I wanted to cry, but I managed to keep a straight face.

At the next fork, I took a turn. If I turned the same way at the next juncture, surely it would be an actual U-turn.

Are we really gonna be okay?

After a few more minutes of walking, I decided it was about time to take the second turn. Suddenly, I heard the Great Greg let out a muffled gasp. I turned around to find that he was looking at me like some sort of monster.

“No freakin’ way. There weren’t any traces at all. He didn’t even check, so... how?”

“I keep telling you, everything Master does is intentional.”

“Now’s not the time for that! We need to help them!” Rhuda cried as she darted ahead of us.

That was when I finally noticed multiple people lying down at the very far end of the path. Based on their size, they weren’t phantoms. I squinted to see that they were all still moving somewhat.

Huh, what? Did the Great Greg notice that? Gee, you all have good eyes. On a bad day, I would’ve just walked on by without noticing them. Wait. Are those the rescue targets we’re here for? How are they still alive? That is some ungodly luck. Wish I was that lucky.

Tino gazed at me with bizarre and undue reverence, puffing her chest out with pride. “See? All this has been according to his plan.”

I shook my head. “No, no, no. This is clearly a coincidence.” Even a Relic couldn’t have foretold this future.

“You’re the one who brought us here, dude,” Li’l Gilbert said, annoyed.

Our primary rescue target was a man even larger than the Great Greg. He wore a full suit of gray armor and had a green-painted shield. Next to him was a conical lance, one you’d never use against other people, positioned in such a way that he could grab it at any time. Based on its mystical shine, it was probably a Relic.

No doubt, this was Rudolph Davout. I had never heard his name before receiving the request. He was looking pretty lazy right now, but this giant was imposing enough that I could see why he was a recognized level 5 hunter.

Apparently, Tino and the Great Greg did know of him. Why’d you guys take the request when you knew it was a level 5 hunter in trouble? Weirdos.

His bones seemed to be broken. Tino and the others ran up to him and smoothly removed his helmet in order to feed him a potion. As for me, I had no idea how to find his face under all that armor.

Nearby, many of his fallen party members were roughed up all over. Some of them had really bad injuries, but at the very least, they were alive. It was nigh miraculous that this party had made it this far without being killed.

“How’s the pain?” Tino asked.

Rudolph’s face was haggard, but the fire of life still burned deep within his eyes. Through labored breaths, he croaked, “All good... Thanks. You really saved us.”

“You should thank him instead,” Tino replied, gesturing to me.

“I really didn’t do anything.”

Seriously, I didn’t help at all. All I did was send Tino into this hellhole. Wait, am I in a position to be thanked?

Rudolph looked up at me, his eyes hazy. He had been in here for three days. Whether the pain had faded or not, he must have been deeply exhausted. I felt bad for him, so I handed over one of the chocolate bars I had kept on hand as a treat. Rudolph dug into it with voracious hunger.

I waited for him to finish eating before asking, “Where’s your food?”

“Ngh... Outside.”

“Master, ours is outside as well. We were planning to set up camp out there.”

“Oh, huh. My party always just camped inside the vault.”

My childhood friends had considered treasure vaults a handy place to get some training in.

Now that things had calmed down, I went over the situation again. There were multiple unconscious folks, but we’d given them potions, so they weren’t in danger of dying. With all of them alive, though, we were facing a new kind of obstacle. The Association would call their survival good news, but for the people rescuing them, it was a massive pain.

First, it took a hell of a lot of work to carry five injured people. Even more so because of those terrifying phantoms. Secondly, we didn’t have much fight left in us. As a level 5, Rudolph could’ve lent us a hand, but he was beyond malnourished. No way he’d be able to fight those phantoms after three days of this. Besides, he was in this mess because he’d lost to begin with.

Could he even move while wearing that huge armor? We sure as hell wouldn’t be able to carry him. I doubted he’d even be able to lift his lance. Now, if it had been the sword I’d lost along the way, that would be a different story. Worst-case scenario, I figured we might have to ask him to strip and leave it all behind.

Staying collapsed here for so long, you’d never know when a phantom might come around to snack on you. Rudolph might have been lucky, but I was painfully unlucky.

As Rudolph was still only half conscious, Tino looked him up and down and then got straight to the point. “What happened? You’re level 5, so you should have been able to fight through this vault just fine.”

Level 5 hunters were seen as first-rate, and he probably wasn’t a loser like me who had upped his level without improving his abilities. Plus, it wasn’t as though Rudolph was here alone.

Rudolph’s green eyes were as wide as saucers, which told us just how terrified he had been. He pursed his lips for a moment, then said in a quivering voice, “There’s some real bad stuff in here. This isn’t a level 3 vault. I’m telling you, there’s bad stuff going on. I wasn’t careless, but... our attacks didn’t work. Not my lance, and not my buddy’s, either.”

“Yeah, we know. Those wolf knight things with the stupid bone half-masks, yeah? We fought ’em, too.” Li’l Gilbert just shrugged. Clearly, he didn’t know how to read the room.

Rudolph was shocked and shook his head vigorously. “Half? No, that’s not right. The thing that got us... had its face fully covered. It’s a phantom. We gotta get out of here!” He was pale, and his eyes opened even wider, like he was envisioning the enemy and suffering the horrors anew.

Tino looked over to me, her expression grim. Don’t look at me. It’s not my fault!

Were there even stronger phantoms here? I was about ready to sue someone.

What is the deal with this vault? Bad luck or not, we’re not gonna run into that monster... right?

I wanted to laugh it off, but somehow, I just wasn’t in the mood.

That’s my Master. He’s God, through and through! Tino thought, elated.

“Where the hell did you get all this?” Greg asked.

“Not telling,” Krai replied playfully.

Tino’s heart overflowed with emotions as she watched the hunter she worshipped remove chocolate bars from his leather pouch, handing them off to one person after another. Though the capital she hailed from was vast, and there were plenty of excellent hunters, Krai Andrey would always be her number one. He was so approachable, yet it was his heroism that drew Tino to him.

“Do you have anything that isn’t chocolate?” Gilbert huffed.

“Nope, but I’ve got plenty of it.”

Neither that nor Rhuda’s fed-up expression seemed to bother Krai in the slightest. Chocolate bars flowed from his little pouch like magic, easing the tension hanging over them.

Tino’s mentor—her “dear sister Lizzy”—was strong. As strong as a real-deal beast, but her master wasn’t just strong. He also had the incredible kindness to save her life at the eleventh hour, despite her failing to overcome the trial he’d given her.

Despite being in the heat of battle, he hadn’t bothered to defeat the phantoms. He would’ve been able to crush them in a moment, but he had instead dedicated that moment to reminding Tino of what was important: the mission she had entirely forgotten.

After that, he had wasted no time in tracking down the missing people with skills that would put Thieves to shame. The fact that they’d encountered no phantoms so far may have meant that he was aware of the path of least resistance, or perhaps the phantoms even feared him, like the ones in the boss chamber.

One also mustn’t forget that he knew just when to throw away his pride and play the fool to soften the mood. When people talked about the strongest young hunter, Ark’s name was typically the first to come up. But could Ark do this?

Krai excelled in every area. In Tino’s eyes, he was a level 10.

His habit of giving people trials based on his own aptitude was somewhat of a problem, but that was what they called tough love. When people truly couldn’t handle it, he would help them. It was hard to call it a flaw.

Greg turned toward her master. “What do we do now?”

“We get out of here, of course. We’ve accomplished our objective.”

To hunters, fighting and overcoming a powerful enemy was the greatest honor. But his response was unfaltering. Most likely, he was trying to be considerate of the rescue targets. Chocolate bars were nutritious indeed, but they couldn’t immediately heal the five who had met disaster.

Alternatively... perhaps the phantom that had defeated them wasn’t even strong enough for her master to consider it worth conquering?

Just watching him brought life back into her exhausted body. Tino didn’t want her idol to see her being so pathetic anymore, not after she had failed his trial already. She had been beyond overjoyed when he had come to save her, but she still wanted Krai to accept her. Even if she seemed like nothing more than dirt to a level 8 like him.

Just then, he happened to look her way. Her heart rate skyrocketed.

Her idol offered her a warm smile and said, “Well, Tino’s the one in charge today. So we follow her orders.”

“Huh? Oh, but compared to you, I...” Her true feelings leaked out.

Anyone other than Tino would surely pale in comparison to him. With his bountiful experience as a level 8, the peerless Thousand Tricks was able to discern problems in treasure vaults even from his perch in the capital. Not a single hunter in this vast empire could hope to best him.

As Tino shrank back, her master continued with the most serious look on his face, “This is valuable experience. When you need it, I’ll help you out.”

With that said, she couldn’t saddle him with all the hard work.

Occasionally sneaking glances at him, Tino thought to herself for a moment. Then, she said, “I agree with you, Master. We should prioritize exiting the treasure vault with the least amount of effort.”

“And you’ll guide us, right?”

She reflexively nodded.

As any decent hunter should, she had already memorized the map of this treasure vault. She knew their current location; there was no need to worry about getting lost. Krai may have been kind enough to help her find the rescue targets, but she couldn’t count on his kindness forever.

“Of course. I may not be able to evade all of the phantoms like you did, however.”

“Huh? Uh, yeah, totally. Let’s try to avoid as many as we can, though. It’s really important.”

“Yes, absolutely. I’m completely healed, so I should be able to run just fine now.”

“Wha—?! Oh, cool. Yeah, we were going pretty slow before, haha. But remember, we’ve got wounded people with us.”

Tino blushed in embarrassment. She was so self-conscious with his eyes on her, it had completely slipped her mind. Truly, she should be ashamed of herself.

The injured hunters all boasted pretty high levels, so they should have been able to run at least as fast as the rest of them had earlier. But now wasn’t the time to mention that, as that wasn’t what her master meant.

Tino just wanted to hide in a hole, but she took a deep breath and collected herself. Now wasn’t the time to fret over her own shame. She was never going to measure up to her master in many ways, so all she could do now was her best.

Fighting the desire to shrink back from his stern gaze, Tino declared, “Also... this may be an unnecessary concern with you present, Master, but I believe it would be best to ask Rudolph more about the wolf knight that attacked his party.”

The silver wolf knight raised its head slowly at the silent shadow that approached it.

There was a small vessel at its feet. Its smell was unfamiliar, but the wolf knight instinctively knew at first sniff that it was something to be wary of. However, as the being had been born with greater intelligence than the Silver Moons, it quickly realized that the item posed no danger and that it had been deceived. It resolved to crush the puny offender the next time they met.

The mysterious chain that had coiled around the wolf knight’s feet had since lost its tension and fallen to the floor. If such a tactic was used against it again, the wolf knight knew how to fight back. It wouldn’t pose a threat.

Hoisting its greatsword, which was as tall as its own body, it turned toward the intrusive shadow in a slow, seemingly perturbed manner. The crimson eye peeking out from behind its half-mask shone with greater enmity than before.

Two other wolves that had been lying in ambush—one with a bow and one with a club—looked over as well. At the end of their line of sight was a small figure, its entire face covered by a bone mask with a wide grin. Unlike their full-body plate armor, the figure wore light armor that seemed to emphasize its lithe build. Its knee-high boots glimmered with silver light.

While it wasn’t even one-third of the height of these wolf knights, its terrifying aura far surpassed theirs. In its hands was a mid-sized sword, drawn and held at the ready. Unlike the weapons held by the silver wolf knights, this sword was translucent.

Silent Air was its name. This Relic, with a shine that clearly differed from normal weapons, was swung casually by the figure. The wolf knights had no way of knowing that it had once been carried by a level 8 hunter, ejected on his wild journey through the den.

The White Wolf’s Den was the result of a curse by the Silver Moons, which had been trampled until the very end. Their grudge, their feeling of enmity, had a strong influence on the mana material collecting in the den. It was a mix of animosity and... admiration. Admiration for strength, for form, for intelligence. Animosity and admiration were two sides of the same coin.

The fact that the wolf knights stood on two legs and used tools was a direct result of that. This was likewise true for the human bones which covered the sides of their faces. Who, then, was this figure whose face was fully covered with bones?

Although it had failed to materialize the grudge to its full extent until now due to a lack of mana material, this treasure vault had finally grown to the point that it could fight off level 5 hunters.

As their bodies overflowed with hostility, the wolf knights howled. The figure, with its laughing skull mask, walked away with lackadaisical steps.