Volume 1 Chapter 13 The Trainer's Seriousness
First, Rose charged at a giant ant-like monster.
I followed closely behind, ready to support her at any moment.
Then, sensing her danger, an ant-like monster suddenly jumped out from a hole beside the plaza.
It wasn't as big as the Emperor Ant, but it was a fast and troublesome monster──the Strain Ant.
Having detected its position in advance with my tracking magic, I quickly readied my knife in my right hand and slashed at the one trying to bite Rose.
"Grraah!"
The Strain Ant was covered in a tough body, but I struck its soft joint with my knife, slicing through easily.
Its legs and arms were torn apart, leaving its neck wide open for a finishing blow.
I managed to stop the attack on Rose, but I soon sensed another Strain Ant coming from the opposite hole.
"──!"
With a silent breath, I kicked off the ground with all my strength.
I closed in on the newly emerged Strain Ant in an instant and slashed with my knife again.
"Haah!"
One strike, 2 strikes, 3 strikes.
I swung my arm rapidly, landing 3 quick slashes.
The knife, sharpened by weapon enhancement, swiftly cut through the Strain Ant's limbs.
After taking down the second one, I scanned the area for my next target.
I saw that Rose was already engaged in battle with the Emperor Ant, and I sensed 3 Strain Ants lurking around them.
"Damn──!"
I quickly moved to where I felt their presence and slashed as soon as I caught sight of them.
I couldn't let them interfere with Rose's fight.
I had to ensure that Rose could face the Emperor Ant one-on-one, not allowing a single Strain Ant to get close.
Following the sensed presence around me, I swiftly took down the 3 Strain Ants, but without a moment's pause, I felt the presence of another Strain Ant.
Thanks to the support magic enhancing my agility, I could move as soon as I sensed it, but it was going to be a close call.
If I mess up even once, it'll cause a delay and everything will fall apart.
So I need to pinpoint the Strain Ants location and quickly take their heads off the moment they appear.
"Faster...! Even faster...!"
I hadn't told Rose, but there are about 30 Strain Ants stationed to protect the emperor ant.
Even though I used to be a top-tier adventurer in a hero party, my job class is a non-combat Trainer.
Normally, a party made up of adventurers ranked 3 or higher would carefully tackle the nest, but handling all the Strain Ants by myself is way too tough.
And asking for reinforcements from Hyamars town is no good either, since most of them are just rookie adventurers and lack the strength.
What's worse, there's no one willing to lend a hand just for Rose's growth, which is pretty pathetic.
On top of that, with no time to spare, I have no choice but to deal with the Strain Ants all on my own.
"Ugh...! Hyaah!"
Honestly, I didn't want to do this.
Hunting the emperor ant gives a ton of divine growth points, but dealing with the Strain Ants is a huge hassle.
Plus, it puts a massive burden on me, and there's a chance my mistakes could put Rose in danger.
But I thought there was no other choice if I wanted her to grow.
The reason I felt that way was because of the enormous amount of divine growth points she could get from the emperor ant.
[Species] Emperor Ant
[Rank] B
[Divine Growth Point Acquisition] 25,000
My Divine Eye skill lets me read all kinds of information from what I see.
Of course, it includes human Divine Revelation, information about herbs and minerals, and details about monsters too.
So, I can visualize the monster's species name, the danger level rank, and the divine growth points I get when I defeat them.
By the way, here's the details for Flare Bambi.
[Species] Flare Bambi
[Rank] E
[Divine Growth Points Earned] 2000
Comparing the two, the massive divine growth points from the Emperor Ant.
That number is about ten times more than Flare Bambi.
Only I, with the Divine Eye skill, know about these efficient monsters.
With the bonus from the first defeat and the Trainer's support skill, I thought Rose, who has been stuck in growth, could make a huge leap.
"Ugh──!"
I rush to take care of the Strain Ant blocking my way.
But, as more Strain Ants keep appearing, my stamina is getting drained, and I'm falling behind.
While I'm struggling with one Strain Ant, another one crawls out from the ground and bares its fangs at Rose, who's fighting the main one.
"Get... it there!"
I quickly take care of the ant in front of me and throw my knife with my right hand.
The tip flies straight towards the Strain Ant coming up behind Rose, hitting it right at the neck with a 'thud!'.
"Gigi... gi!"
The Strain Ant collapses weakly to the ground just before reaching Rose.
I rush over to pull out my knife and start running towards the next presence I sense.
In this tightrope battle, finally, Rose's sword slices off the right front leg of the Emperor Ant.
With another strike, she cuts off its right middle leg, inflicting a deep wound on the Emperor Ant.
"Go, Rose!"
"──!"
Pushed by my voice, Rose grips her sword tightly and moves forward.
She slips under the exposed jaw of the Emperor Ant...
"Ha... ah!"
She pierces through the connection of its head and body from below.
With its neck impaled, the Emperor Ant twitches and slowly falls to the ground.
Rose is out of breath, looking down at the fallen Emperor Ant with wide eyes, surprised.
She must be shocked that she actually won.
Even with my support magic, the Emperor Ant is a tough opponent like none we've faced before.
The recommended rank for taking it down is a rank 2 adventurer, and for a rank 5 adventurer to defeat it alone is extremely rare.
More than anything, the body enhancement from the support magic is powerful, but it's hard to fully utilize it.
The combat sense that allowed her to make the most of that power is definitely Rose's own talent.
She can be proud of this victory.
"Rose, we need to get out of here now!"
"Ah, okay!"
The critically injured Emperor Ant will soon die if we leave it alone.
Knowing this, I kicked the Strain Ant in front of me and urged Rose to escape.
More Strain Ants should still be coming.
There's no point in fighting any longer, and I'm starting to get tired too.
So, we quickly pulled back and escaped the nest.
We both rolled into a nearby thicket to hide from the pursuing Strain Ants.
They didn't follow us outside the nest and went back deeper inside.
As soon as we confirmed that, Rose and I let out a huge sigh of relief.
"Haah! Good job, Rose. You did great."
"Mr. Roezé, you were amazing too. It felt like you took down an incredible number of monsters..."
Her surprised gaze makes me feel a bit happy.
It feels rewarding to have pushed myself.
"I thought maybe 5 or 6 Strain Ants would show up, but I never expected such a huge swarm..."
"Uh, sorry I didn't mention it. I thought if I said 'maybe around 30 would come,' you might back down thinking about my burden."
"Well, I do feel a bit bad about that..."
There might be around 30 Strain Ants, but don't worry, I'll handle them all.
There's no way Rose could be okay with hearing something like that.
I thought she might even back out of this whole monster-hunting mission.
Guess it was a good call to keep quiet.
"Uh, so, how many did Mr. Roezé take down in the end?"
"Well... about 20, I guess? Honestly, it was more about making sure I didn't get in the way of Rose's fight than counting the numbers."
"Twenty...?"
Rose froze again, looking shocked.
After a moment, as if she was thinking about something, she quietly smiled while looking at her right hand.
"From the first time you helped me, I thought you were something special, but Mr. Roezé, you really are amazing."
"Amazing, huh...?"
I don't really think that about myself.
If she's saying that because of what happened this time or the last time I helped her, then she's overestimating me.
I'm still pretty inexperienced.
I've always watched those super strong heroes fight up close.
After seeing those truly amazing battles, my own shortcomings stand out like a sore thumb.
So, I don't think I've done anything worthy of praise, but...
this time, I decided to just accept the compliment.
"Anyway, it's definitely Rose who worked hard this time. So, congratulations, Rose."
"Y-yes, thank you!"
As she returned the compliment and showed her open right hand, she slapped it against her own right hand with a 'smack!' With that, the hunt for the Emperor Ant was complete.
Rose should gain a ton of divine growth points and make some serious progress.
There's no way she wouldn't level up after all this.
I'm not saying she'll jump up 5 or 6 levels, but at least 3, right? Unfortunately, my somewhat modest prediction was about to be proven wrong.
But it wasn't in a "bad way," it was in a "good way"...
if anything, it shot up diagonally.
Suddenly, Rose's body started to shine brightly.
"Huh?"
It should be around the time when the Emperor Ant is about to die, and a huge amount of divine growth points should be coming our way.
Just as I was thinking that, Rose's whole body suddenly started to shine with a bright white light, like it was about to explode.
"Ro...se?"
"Wha, what is this!? I'm scared, I'm scared!"
Rose flailed her arms and legs while still glowing.
But no matter how panicked she was, the light didn't fade away.
As we both stood there confused, the light Rose was giving off grew stronger, filling our vision with pure white.
I instinctively covered my eyes with both hands, and when I slowly opened them, the light was gone from Rose's body.
"Wha, what just happened?"
"..."
Rose still looked puzzled, not understanding what had just occurred.
But I was the only one who noticed her clear change and couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Haha! So that's what it was!"
"...?"
In my "eyes," I could definitely see it.
The true nature of the light.
The reason why Rose had a hard time growing compared to others.
Why she had that strange job class name, "Apprentice Warrior.".
Anyway, with this, my role was completely finished.
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