Seiya, Ellen, Chloé and Maria were currently sleeping while Zero was leaning against a tree a little away from them, standing guard for the night.

‘According to Seiya, there's only a few days left before we arrive at destination.’

A month has already passed since Zero and Seiya teamed up now.

During that month, Zero began to know them a little more.

The girl known as Maria gave off the feeling of a shy girl, she was easily scared and strongly lacked confidence. However, she was very friendly and very caring. Every time someone got injured, she would heal them while making sure to scold them for being rash. She was this team's healer and probably the one Zero liked the most.

Chloé was a mage. In Zero's point of view, she was a normal girl, she didn't really have anything particular except for the fact that she was an extremely good cook. Although, they didn't really have that much ingredient, what she ended up cooking was always absolutely delicious.

That, however, is only how Zero sees it. If someone were to be with her, they would have noticed that she was extremely strong. She was extremely proficient in magic even though she didn't have a 'class'. In the future, Chloé would probably be a mage known throughout the world.

Ellen was a swordswoman. She was also the youngest one on the team. As such, she was very lively, 'very' being a keyword. However, her most troubling aspect was that she was a battle junkie. Zero doesn't really know how to handle her as she keeps asking her to a mock battle.

Finally, there is Seiya. Zero was rather uncomfortable around him as he has every quality to be a Hero.

In her past life Zero was the world's enemy. As such, there were people that came to defeat her. These people were the Heroes.

However, all of them died by Zero's hand.

Although now, she didn't need and wouldn't kill Hero anymore, the feeling of guilt would always well up when Seiya was around.

Overall, Zero liked the team, but, she decided to not stay with them.

‘I should split up with them when we arrive in town’

At that moment, Zero suddenly sensed presence around them.

‘Monster? No......Human.’

Soon after, two people came out of the forest.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Who are you?”

Zero asked.

“That is what I'd like to ask. What are you guys doing in the forest at such a time? Don't you know that it's dangerous?”

One of the men said with a slight grin on his face.

“Well, not that it bothers us. Don't tempt anything funny and I'll promise you that all you'll be felling will be pure bliss.”

The other one said with an even bigger grin while they advanced slowly toward Zero.

Zero concluded that these men were the people referred to as bandit.

‘I should deal with them without waking the other.'

★

One man was running.

He was running with all the force he could muster. After all, death was after him.

‘I don't want to die!’

The man was part of a bandit group named "Black wolf".

He was just supposed to patrol the area when it happened.

He saw a group of people in the middle of the forest and decided to loot them.

That was his mistake.

Looking back at it, no normal people would ever wander the forest at such an hour.

‘I should have reported them immediately’

He should have, indeed, but, when he saw the girl among the group, his lust took over his reasoning.

“Damn it! Damn it!! DAMN IT!!!”

When he approached the girl, that was probably standing guard, his friend instantly died, without even leaking a sound.

Then, without even knowing it, he was already running away.

‘I just have to reach the hideout !’

That was his only hope. If he had the help of his gang, then surely, even the monster chasing after him wouldn't stand a chance.

That was what he believed.

No.

That was what he wanted to believe.

But when he thought he finally arrived at destination, his head flew off from his body.

“...Wh-what....?”

The last thing he saw was the face of a girl with beautiful silky white hair that seemed to be shining in the middle of the night.

She was the most beautiful woman he saw in his entire miserable life.

‘Dying like this...isn't so bad.’

Those were the last thought of a foolish man.

★

‘Is this their hideout’

Zero was standing at the entrance of a cave that seemed to be the perfect refuge for bandit.

‘There seems to be a lot of people inside’

Two guards were standing at the entrance but she already took care of them.

33 people were deduced to be inside of the cave through Zero's estimation.

Faced with these number the Zero from one month ago would have fled, but, now, it was different.

‘This should be easy.’

Zero's eye transformed from white to red.

《 The skill『Wrath』has been activated 》

At first, Zero couldn't control this skill, as demonstrated when she fought gluttony.

At that time, wrath increased her stat tremendously. And although it permitted her to beat gluttony, one wrong step and she would have died.

Now, however, she could finally regulate wrath so that the stats increase wouldn't break her body.

《 All stat + 20 》

Power surged inside Zero. Her vision increased and she could feel her strength rise slowly.

Zero is again reminded of how powerful wrath is. After all, she received the same amount of strength as twenty levels up in just a few seconds.

‘Let's begin!’

Zero advanced toward the cave.

★

“Twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two,...”

One hour after, Zero was standing in a sea of blood while counting the corpse.

“One is missing. Probably the leader.”

Zero considered searching for him but abandoned the idea as it was almost morning.

Plus, she was covered in blood, and that is one of the things she hated the most in the world.

“Isn't there a river nearby?”

Thus, she quitted the cave in a hurry without knowing that the one she letted escape would be a source of trouble for her in the not so far future.