It was supposed to be a simple quest of defeating a lone ogre threatening to pillage the small village far from the city.

His rough hand grabbed the neck of the ogre, chocking the monster with his strength alone.

Darwyn was bigger than the ogre, thus more powerful. It was funny and yet, at the same time scary, to think that a human could overpower a monster who relied primarily on their strength.

Slowly, the ragged breathing of the ogre became faint, until it stopped wheezing air through its foaming mouth.

Darwyn pushed the ogre to the loaf of snow below, then thrust his sword, piercing the already lifeless head of the ogre.

The blood splattered with disgusting noise, painting the white snow with red blood.

He steadied his breathing before facing the north. A forest—not the same one that his party went through—can be seen.

He gave the carcass a vicious kick, turning the body around as it showed its rear.

A mark was etched to its bristly skin. “There's a whole tribe of ogre residing near the village.” Letting out a fog through his visor, Darwyn switched his gaze at the ranger beside him.

“Indeed. The problem was more grave than we thought.” Raka pulled out an arrow from the leg of the ogre that he let out earlier to prevent it from escaping.

He twisted the tip of the arrow with the loincloth of the monster, removing the bits of meat and blood attached to it, then returning it to his quiver at his back.

“I suspect that they are more to them. A dozen, I presume.” Raka squinted his cat eyes as his tail swept the ground.

“We go straight. I advise you to be vigilant at all times!” He exclaimed with his feline voice.

If Liliana were to see this, she would die of how cute Raka was.

“Then let's go.” Stepping through the thick snow, they proceeded, Darwyn was in front while Raka was keeping an eye to the side and back.

Deep within the forest, they saw a rising smoke beyond the cold flowing river.

“That must be it,” Darwyn muttered. He ventured to the water without minding the cold, submerging half of his body just to pass it.

“No way I would do that Paladin!” With a small nyaa, Raka jumped from the rocks with careful but fast steps, he crossed the other side before Darwyn.

The trail was nothing for the feline ranger. While for the paladin, when he finally tread on the soil, water dripped from his armor.

He didn't even wait for it to dry as he casually led the way. Raka looked at him with a worried gaze, though his face still the same. “Won't you catch frostbite? I thought humans are prone to cold.”

Since his race was covered in fluffy fur, they rarely need for insolation, but that very same fur that they are proud of was quite troublesome during summer.

“No. This is nothing new. I have the blessing of my goddess.” Darwyn replied. He has a resistance to ailments, at least to some degree.

“So it's fine.” He added.

When the two arrived at the source of the smoke, they proved that their suspicion was correct.

A small tribe of nomadic ogre settled inside the forest. Most of them are bigger than Raka, but a bit smaller than Darwyn.

They wore little clothing, just enough to cover their genitals. Accessories dangled from their neck, proudly flashing their culture.

From bone necklace to bone piercing, everything was made of bone.

That very same bones were laid at a certain place of the tribe, stacked up one after another. The remains were from animals, monsters, and mostly, humans.

The two were hiding behind the trees as they observed their targets.

Calmly marking the ogres and calculating how many can he take with his limited supplies of arrows, Raka let out a purr, “What do you think Paladin?”

“Hhmm... We must gather them in one place.”

“Certainly!”

Raka quickly climbed a tree and dashed through the branches like it was nothing, he didn't even make a sound.

Stretching his leg, hopping through the twigs, then let out arrow mid-air.

The projectile landed to a bush near the tribe, making a rustling noise as it was disturbed.

Their heads turned into that one place, the ogres raised an eyebrow. Something was making a noise, there must be something to it.

The ogres are not known for their intelligence, nor their wisdom. Some even say that they are just the weaker version of Earth Giants.

Ogres, though not all of them, gathered. Now that Raka's job was done, Darwyn has begun his prayer silently.

“Aversia, preserver of law. The enemy of justice shall repent with the words of thee. Obey. Halt!”

His goddess was listening, granting him the miracles to help him eradicate the forces of chaos. His words were like chains that grappled the bodies of the ogres.

Every living being that has a lower wisdom than him must obey his words. That was the nature of the prayer he just used.

Darwyn sprinted with all he got, his sword and shield ready. The ogres couldn't move even if they wanted to, all they could do was to watch Darwyn brandish his weapon.

The flesh was ripped by the metal blade, one by one. Their brethren were being slaughtered before their very eyes, and that caused them to feel something higher than wrath.

Who wouldn't be? They were just leaving "peacefully" and according to their traditions and now, a paladin appeared just kill their companion?

It was the chieftain that broke off the miracle that Darwyn cast. He was bigger than any ogres here, stronger and tougher than the rest.

Grabbing his favorite wood club, he flung himself to the paladin. He was the strongest, no creature can defeat him.

Darwyn noticed the chieftain quickly, even before he freed himself from his prayers.

His body turned, facing the raging ogre with the uncontrollable rage.

“Ukhar Krumtur Krishya! Drugkanri!” Some sort of wry cry came from the chieftain as it dashed towards Darwyn.

Bang! The shield and the club collided. Darwyn stepped back to ease the weight on his shield, then shifted his footing, slashing the ogre in its forearm.

But the he bone was strong enough to stop the looming sword. The chieftain smirked, his men too. The human was weak and didn't cut his arm, that was all there to it. The battle was on his side.

Suddenly, the sword started moving once again, it resembled water freely crawling through his body, then to his neck. A sword technique that was too complicated for the ogres to understand.

With just one flicker of Darwyn's sword, the chieftain's neck sprinkled blood to his companions.

The chieftain kneeled, making a shocked and pained expression.

Then he felt something pressing onto his neck, cold and hard, the metal shoes of the knight.

He was desperately gasping for air, his arm flailing all around. Darwyn raised his sword and stabbed the chieftain in the eyes nonchalantly.

“KRUuu..u..u...” Chieftain's last words were incomprehensible, even to his brethren who were watching him in horror.

The twist of Darwyn's helmet seems so dramatic for the ogres who couldn't move. If they could unfasten their mouth, they would plead, but the paladin was not so kind as to let it end at that.

“Rakatuya...Raka. Take out the ogres that will run.” He said, hacking another ogre into pieces.

The ranger found it amusing that Darwyn tried to pronounce his name, then back off and then called him like how everyone does.

“Very well,” Raka replied as he plucked the string of his bow. He lacked the refinement of the typical elf archer, but he was precise and quick nonetheless.

His arrow arced the air, penetrating an ogre's neck, exiting to its mouth.

Critical.

It was a one-sided slaughter, it didn't take too long for the place to be covered in meat and blood.

No one was exempted. The male, female, and even children, all of them shared the same fate.

Their corpses showed their anger and dread. But even so, Darwyn nor Raka expressed any kind of remorse.

Just like it was normal for the ogres to view humans as toys or food, it was normal for them to kill them without hesitation.

It was just how the world goes, even in ancient times. What they did was hardly remarkable to be remembered.

The gruesome massacre ended with the two standing at the center.

Raka's finger bounced back and forth, counting the dead bodies in the place.

“That's twelve. They are twelve of them Paladin.” He merrily said, his tail whipped the ground.

Darwyn bobbed his head in conformation, then he grunted. “With this, the quest is finished.”

“Hahaha! It was a good adventure!—Oh? I'm smelling something...”

Darwyn looked at the pondering ranger who was switching his head left to right. Behind the trees, far away from this place, Raka sniffed something from the cold air.

A smell of fresh blood...? He didn't quite know, especially with all the gore surrounding him.

“I think someone is deeply wounded, quite a distance to us, Paladin. What shall we do?” Raka was not sure as to why he always ask Darwyn for instruction, even though he himself has a long time experience as an adventurer.

Perhaps because he was a paladin? The thoughts swirled inside his mind but he threw them away in an instant. One must be looking for death if they are thinking something different in the middle of an adventure.

“We will go there. Lead the way.” Darwyn replied almost instantly. Raka smiled, revealing his sharp fangs. “Very well!” He happily obliged to the paladin.

The two of them run through the woods and the thick snow, they were leaving footmarks behind them.

A faint sound of something clashing whispered to them as it somehow echoed the forest. It was a fight.

They arrived, huffing and puffing, creating white fogs with their mouth.

They saw two, presumably, adventurers. Still juvenile, they stood before three ogres of the same tribe earlier.

It was the young man who was holding a sword that faced the three, his face hopeless and tired, he was protecting the wounded female companion behind him.

Darwyn stretched his arm, then thrashed his shield into the air. His shield spun around, whistling, crushing the head of one unfortunate ogre.

The shield didn't stop and bashed itself into a tree. Everything happened too fast that neither of the ogres nor the adventurers didn't react.

When an arrow pierced and killed another ogre, the adventurer finally knew what was happening. Help arrived.

“MUKRAK NI HAYATI!” The surviving ogre screamed with its growling voice.

Darwyn jumped as he wielded his weapon up in the air. A sharp strike ran down through the ogre's body, splitting its body vertically.

“Ah!” The young adventurer said in disgust when the red liquid squirted at him.

Darwyn ignored his cries and headed to the injured female adventurer, kneeling beside her, he reached her with his palm.

“Aversia, preserver of law. May your gentle hand touch this feeble one's soul. Heal.”

The warm light closed her wounds, but the trauma she got from the fight was still there.

“T-thank you...” The woman said weakly. Darwyn nodded before standing up and picking his red-stained shield.

“Are you alright boy?”

“Ah!” The young man didn't notice Raka's arrival at his back, he was still alert and jumpy, still vigilant at the possible threat. “I-I'm okay... T-thank you.”

“Good to know!” Raka's face turned into a warm cat-like smile.

“What are you doing here?” Darwyn moved the ogre's body with his feet before looking at the two adventurers.

“We just finished a quest and was on our way back but we're attacked by these ogres.” Said the young man.

“I see. Then come with us.” Darwyn's directness caused the two young adventurers to be suspicious. Even if they saved their lives, they are still practically strangers.

Raka quickly sensed this as he pulled something from his bag. “Worry not younglings, for I am recognized by the guild, look!”

A silver card was being held by his hand. The two of the adventurer's eyes shone brightly.

“B-ranked! W-wow!” It was the young man who said that. The woman was amazed too, but she had no power to show it.

“Eh... But still.” What about that guy? Was what he wanted to say but choose to remain silent. He might anger them if he was not careful.

With the all the stares landed at him, Darwyn guessed what he needed to do.

His big hand took something, a gold card. “Here, I'm A-ranked.” He said as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

“A-ranked!”

“Wow....”

“Hahaha! As I thought!” Out of the three, it was only Raka who was dancing in joy.

“W-were finally safe...” The young man said, sighing in relief.

The stress of adventuring was still too much for the young man and his companion. It reminded Darwyn of how he fared in his first adventure.

They're more composed than me. Darwyn thought.

The young man clenched his fist, then exclaimed “My, my name is Lander! S-soon, I will become an S-ranked adventurer!”