Volume 3 Chapter 3: Part 2: Camping

That clack sound came from Onyx's fist, contacting Vinnie's cheeks. He decked him right in the face. But there wasn't anyone stopping him.

Everyone looked at him with understanding rather than shock.

"You incompetent clowns! What were you guys trying to pull?!" Onyx roared out in anger. He finally snapped. After finishing off the monsters, there was no need for him to hold back.

"Gah!" Vinnie spat out blood. What was more, a couple of teeth came out too. He didn't expect Onyx to punch him out of the blue like that.

Blaine's expression turned dark as he rushed Onyx with the mace in hand, "You assh*le!" He swung down on him, wanting to take him out, but Onyx dodged the mace and kicked him in the back.

Blaine fell face-first into the ground.

"If you guys pull shit like that again, don't even bother coming with us. Go back to the guild." Them rushing out like that irritated Onyx. But breaking the formation wasn't the worst action Blaine and Galven did.

To be honest: it might have been the least dangerous action. Because Onyx was able to substitute for the two.

What came after topped that. Once the two charged blindly in, Vinnie and Blaine kept killing off the goblins at rapid speeds.

And that was the problem.

Charging head-first into a horde of goblins was foolish. Onyx did the same thing before, but they are two different situations. He understood how much he could handle.

"Get them out of there!" Nigel shouted out. Despite getting attacked in the front, he could still see everything. And that was what they did. Rena and Cyrus fired arrows in their direction, opening the path.

The goblin focused on Nigel, who kept pushing them back. Because of what Blaine and Vinnie did, it split the focus onto the two of them as well!

What made it worse was the goblins had a direct route to the backline! As they ran, the goblins followed.

And that was why Onyx had to pull his weight even more. He was forced to move even more, trying his best to kill off as many goblins.

But he was only one person dealing with numerous amount of goblins. There were complications.

"..." Blaine and Vinnie could only glare at Onyx. They couldn't do anything to him. Their legs were shaking, unable to move.

Onyx didn't look at them anymore lest he wanted to punch them again. He walked over to Rena.

"Are you alright?" Onyx took out some potions and bandages for Rena.

Cyrus and Nigel were using potions. So was Tricia. The only one who didn't look like she had much was Willa.

"Willa, use this. This one has better effects than the one you have" Onyx then chucked her a potion.

"Ahh, I can't take something like this." What Onyx gave her was a potion.

"It's ok. I have plenty on me. We need you at our full strength. And don't use magic so much." Willa recently joined the guild not too long ago. So she wouldn't have any high-class items.

"Thank you, senior!" Willa bowed her head.

"It's fine. We need you at full strength." Onyx smiled and walked over to Morgan and the other workers. That was the reason why Onyx was so angry.

The open path gave the goblins a way to get toward Morgan and the rest.

"I should be fine." Morgan tried to look fine as he clenched his mouth together. But the large knife wound on his foreleg said differently.

"I'm going to pour potion on it." Onyx took a potion and poured it on Morgan's wound.

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"Tsk! Can you do it slower?" Morgan's face paled from the pain.

"Sorry. But I have to pour it faster. It's more effective that way." Onyx said as he bandaged it up.

"Stay here for now. I'll help the others." Onyx said as he walked towards Morgan's employees. But,

"You bastard!" Blaine raged. He charged toward Onyx once again.

"You damn fool! What is wrong with you two!" And he got knocked down again. This time, it was Nigel who punched him. Onyx wasn't the only one who was furious.

And how could he not?

"Do you think this is a game, and you can do whatever you want?!" This wasn't their first time doing a promotional exam. What made them think they could do whatever they wanted?!

The whole reason why he decided on this formation was to protect the merchants. And these two ruined it just like that!

"It's that woman over there! She's the cause of all of it! She's the one firing arrows at me! Ask her!" Blaine roared out as he pointed toward Rena.

"..." The only thing the group could do was look at him like he was insane. What was wrong with you?! Are you that pigheaded to not understand what you did?!

"Rena was helping you! You guys are the ones who ruined everything!" Willa screamed out in anger. She had never seen somebody so shameless as them.

"What ugly people you are. Not admitting to your own mistakes and blaming someone else shows your true colors." Tricia mocked when she heard that.

"Just ignore them! They're too far gone to figure out what they did was wrong. Cyrus, come help me pick up the workers. We need to move out now."

They defeated everything around them, but it didn't mean any more would show up.

"Gotcha." "I'll drive the front wagon, and you drive the other." Cyrus walked over and carried the workers to the wagons, and so did Nigel. Both drove the wagons.

It didn't take long before they arrived in a calmer place. And once they set up everything,

"What is wrong with you guys?! Aren't you all adventurers! How could you make such a mistake?!" One of Morgan's workers screamed out in anger.

Pure fury on his face. After getting out of that situation, there was nothing stopping them from holding back. Nigel and the rest were supposed to protect them, yet they couldn't do it and almost died.

"We're sorry." Nigel could only say that.

"Sorry?! We almost-" "Stop it now!" Morgan screamed out.

"Boss." "Enough. We all came here together, knowing the risk. So stop trying to pin the blame on them." The workers shut up. Morgan sighed,

"Seriously. Sorry about my workers."

"It's ok. It's our fault. But how are the goods and the wagon?" As Nigel drove the wagon, he felt something off with it.

"It's nothing much. Just the screw is loose on the wheel. The upper part of the wagon was badly damaged. We'll have to take off the shades. But most of the goods are fine."

Nigel sighed in relief, "That's good. You guys should rest up now. We'll watch over you guys. We won't let this foolishness get in the way again."

"Ok." Morgan nodded as he took his employees to their tent to rest. And the eight of them were left now.

"..." There was an eerie silence between the group. There was actually nothing they could say about what happened. It didn't matter whether or not Blaine and Vinnie were the ones who caused this problem; they all knew they might get docked because of this.

"Anyways, nothing much can be said about what happened today. Next time, you guys will follow my orders, or you can go. Do you understand?" Nigel scowled at the two.

"Fine." "Understood."

"..." Nigel was this close to smacking the two in the face! They continue to show no remorse for what they did. But he chose not to. He turned over to the rest,

"Onyx, good job covering the giant gaps in the formation. If you didn't do what you did, the merchants might have died." Onyx's role in that party was more important than his.

Onyx had to be the one to take out the goblins while keeping them from getting close to the backline. What was more, he watched over the merchants too.

"It's what I should have done." Onyx frowned a bit as he said, "Anyways, we should get our rest now."

"Yeah." Nigel agreed with it. He was tired after the fight. After all, he had to tank the worth of two extra people.

"We shall keep watch in pairs. If you sense anything, quickly wake us up." Nigel turned to the troubled pair, "You guys will have the first watch. You guys have no say in this matter."

This was punishment.

"Tsk. Fine."

"Alright, let's-" "Wait." Before they could set up their tents, Onyx interjects,

"What's wrong, Onyx?"

"I was thinking the C-ranks should each take a shift by themselves."

"Hmm? Why?" Nigel thought having one person was a little risky. His group always had pairs watch the night.

"The thing we should be focusing on is recuperating as much strength and energy as possible. So keeping the watch time short is better for all of us." Onyx said as he glanced sideways slightly.

And Nigel caught on to what he meant.

He had a point. Looking at each one: the C-ranks look fine for the most part. A little scratched up but still raring to go. But that couldn't be said about Willa and the lower ranks.

This might have been the first time they dealt with a large horde. Tricia looked drained while Willa looked to fall asleep any second. And that could be said about those two as well.

Nigel understood that the lower-rank adventurers were helpful in the fight. And despite the problems, he knew he needed Blaine and Vinnie to be in good condition.

They might become deadweight to them otherwise.

Thinking about it, by spreading Cyrus, him, Rena, and Onyx, the group that needed to watch the night goes from 4 to 6. That would give the others more time to sleep and less time to keep watch too. But,

"Are you sure you can handle it?" Nigel was sure Cyrus and Rena could do it. But what about Onyx? He may look fine, but his looks could be deceiving. He was the one who jumped around a lot to cover the entire fight.

"I'm good. That was nothing more than a cakewalk for me." Onyx smiled.

"...Understood." "Good. Let's decide the order now and get to bed." Deciding on the order went quicker than expected. Each adventurer had brought their own tent with them. As they each set up their own tent,

"Rena, sleep in my tent tonight." Onyx pointed at his finished tent as he said this.

"..." Wait? Does that mean what I think it means? And out here?! Rena and Onyx usually slept in different tents when they were out. So for him to say that, this could only mean......

"No, it's not what you're thinking." Onyx sighed, "It's because of them." He nudged his head towards the two sitting near the fire.

"I don't trust them." Who knew what they would do when they went to sleep.

"I can take them out." Rena knew she could handle them. Even if 10 Vinnies and Blaine came at her, she could obliterate them all.

"I know. But I want to make sure those two won't pull something." Onyx wasn't going to take chances. Not when those guys are so unpredictable.

"..." Rena stayed silent.

Ahh, "You don't have to worry about me attacking you. I won't do any of that." Onyx thumped his chest. A man and a woman in a tent? Nothing needed to be said about what happened next.

Of course, she would feel uncomfortable sleeping next to him.

"...Ok." After a few seconds of silence, Rena decided to sleep together.

And that was how the night would go.