Leonel jumped down from the tree, landing heavily on the ground beside Aina.
"Not bad." He said with a grin.
What he received in response, though, was an elbow to the side.
"Were you trying to get me killed?"
Leonel smiled sheepishly. "Of course not, how could I bear to hurt you?"
"Yip! Yip!" Little Blackstar landed on Leonel's head, knocking him a few times on the head.
It seemed this little guy would never take his side again. Leonel really didn't know who his true partner was. Was her chest really so comfortable?
The moment he had this thought, Leonel grew absentminded before he nodded. Maybe it wasn't so shocking after all.
'Alright, fair enough. You win.'
"At least give me an inch next time." Aina rolled her eyes, feeling that Leonel was thinking of something lewd.
Leonel laughed. "Nope. I understand my precious girlfriend's combat style the best, you're the only one I can do this with. How can I not take advantage?"
Aina was speechless. She was precious? So precious that you didn't mind almost killing her?
Aina shook her head. If it was anyone else, she might refuse to the end. But since it was Leonel… Well, she knew that he would never harm her.
Maybe to Leonel, the barely half centimeter of breathing room he gave her was already him being overly cautious. If he really didn't care about her life, he might leave her small cuts with his every arrow to be the most efficient.
Though Aina only had this thought fleetingly, she had no idea how true it really was. To Leonel, that half a centimeter had no difference from a meter or more.
"Fine. Get to dissecting then." Aina spoke.
"Huh?" Leonel blinked.
"This beast has some useful pieces."
Leonel's expression changed. Sniffing the air and confirming that the rotting smell was indeed coming from this vile creature, his face warped.
"Are… You sure? You're not just saying that to spite me, right?"
Aina didn't even respond to Leonel. Rather, she looked back toward the three who still couldn't believe what they had seen. Though her expression instantly turned cold when she saw them, she still felt that they were better than the four of their teammates who ran.
Ingkath and Irolana, along with a third Leonel didn't recognize, were still in shock about what they had just seen. Were these two really freshmen?
The third individual might have been wearing a black belt, but they had already been in Valiant Heart for more than two years. But, they had never seen such a thing before.
Two freshmen defeating a Tier 7 beast… Was this a joke?
"Thank you!"
Ingkath was the first to step forward and display his gratitude. In truth, he was a bit embarrassed. Most of his team had run away, while he, himself, hadn't dared to help. Though he was sure that he would have only gotten in the way had he tried, it still didn't feel too good.
He had come to this place with such high aspirations and thought he wouldn't ever have to fear anything as long as he had his two fists. Everything was supposed to be smooth sailing.
Yet, the moment he got here, he met roadblock after roadblock. First he failed to join Hero Peak, that honor going to the girl before him now. Then he barely passed the Exam for Honor Peak, leading to a whole host of injuries he couldn't afford to cure. This eventually led to him falling behind and not getting a chance to take advantage of any resources.
By the time he had slowly healed, the rules of the organization were flipped on their head. Now, even as a freshmen, he had to leave and complete endless missions before he could even think of training in exchange for merit points.
Now, he was seeing Leonel, the very man who he had looked down on before, casually dissect a beast he couldn't dream of beating.
From his kneeling position, Leonel waved an arm toward their thank you.
"No problem, don't worry about it. We're fellow freshmen anyway."
Ingkath looked back toward his teammates, not knowing what to say to this. As for Aina, she remained completely silent.
"Do you need the whole thing?" Leonel suddenly asked.
"Not the whole thing. Just its kidneys." Aina replied.
"Alright."
Leonel learned his lesson from last time. This time, he wore his Crafting gloves so as not to get dirty.
If others knew he was using such a treasure in this fashion, it would likely start riots. But, since they had no other use for him now that he Crafted bare handed, he didn't really care much.
"Oh, this skeleton is pretty good."
Leonel's brows raised. He had guessed that the creature definitely had a heavy frame, but he didn't really expect its whole skeleton to actually be made of metal. The best part was that it was Tier 7 to Tier 8 in sturdiness despite not having any other special abilities.
Leonel smiled, making sure not to breathe as he stripped the whole beast bare of flesh. He realized during this battle that his arrows were far too fragile. He could definitely use this skeleton to form some powerful arrow heads.
"Ah!"
At that moment, the third of the group, the very one of the freshmen Leonel didn't recognize, suddenly covered his mouth in shock.
Leonel's head snapped around, but he frowned when he realized there weren't any other enemies around. Now that he thought about it, how could anyone possibly sense an enemy before he did?
He raised an eyebrow, his gaze landing on the young man.
"Is something wrong?"
"T… Th… That…." The young man felt his knees going weak. "That's a Silver Clawed Titan Hyena!"
Leonel blinked. "… And?"
If it was poisonous, Aina would have already warned him long before this young man said anything.
The lip of the freshmen quivered, realizing that no one understood how important this matter was.. It was only then he realized that these people had hardly been here for two months.