Pioneers

"There! That guy! I smell food coming from him!", Alab shouted as he pointed to Kevin…

Kevin was about to keep an eye on the presumed SSS-grade player when Alab pointed in his direction. His hideout was then unearthed. 

*Run

Alab's shout reverberated in the area. It was too loud that the SSS-grade player who was hugging a tree, looked in the direction that Alab pointed. And there he saw his pursuer, a handsome guy clad in green bushes. 

'Is he following me?!', with this thought, the player immediately fled the scene. 

Kevin could only heave a sigh as he had been discovered. He shortly mobilized his feet to chase after the guy again. 

"Hey! Give us food!" 

Alab's voice halted him. Kevin felt the tremor on the ground getting more powerful. 

Apparently, Alab and Althea were running in his direction. 

"Ahmm, d-do you really have any food?" 

"Hey! What are you waiting for? Help us!" 

Althea and Hiraya shouted to the annoyed Kevin. 

Doing his signature move of fixing his eyeglass, Kevin breathed a sigh as he composed himself. 

"These idiots…really", then he ran 

A bizarre scene of four people bickering at each other as if they were not being chased by a Trex, reflected on the area. 

Their defeaning shouts overwhelm the tremor. 

"What do you think are you doing? I'm chasing an important person, you know?", Kevin uttered. His calm demeanor had now returned. 

"Then chase him! Why are you running with us?!", Alab retorted. 

Kevin would have a chance to flee from the Trex whilst the trio was distracting it. It made Alab wonder why he choose to run with them. 

"I want to verify if you guys are really idiots", Kevin mumbled

With the loud tremor and howling of the Trex, his mumble was overshadowed. 

"Huh?! Did you say anything?!" 

"He said we are idiots, bro!" 

"What?! Don't count me in with these guys! I'm not an idiot!" 

*cough

It seemed that Althea heard it. Fixing his eyeglass once more, Kevin changed the topic.  

"So what exactly is your plan?", Kevin asked. His tone is monotonous. 

"Plan?" 

"Yes, you must have some sort of plan, right? For dragging me to your trouble"

"Ahhh, that's right, what's our plan, Althea?", Alab asked Althea who was surprisingly, a little ahead of Alab. 

"Eh? Isn't it just running?", Althea pondered but couldn't remember having a plan. 

Kevin felt his nerve twitching from hearing this. He was finally able to validate his presumption. 

'These guys are indeed idiots', he thought as he shook his head. 

Truth be told, he wanted to see if these guys could kill the S-grade Trex. Despite the restrictions placed by the Tutorial, an SSS-grade player could easily damage this monster. 

But, it seemed that his expectation was too high.

'These guys don't even have a plan'

"Say, can you use your skill?", Kevin asked as he looked at the three of them. Among them, he expected the boy and the girl with the sword to display a good fight. As for the girl being carried? Kevin thought that she must be beyond exhausted. 

"Ahmm, yes, why?", Alab asked. He still had stack damage that he had yet to use. 

"Ahmm, yes", Althea timidly replied

"I could use my skill too!", shouted Hiraya

Kevin nodded his head as he fixed his eyeglass. Stopping on his steps, he uttered. "Good. Now, we are gonna write an epic in this Tutorial" 

—- 

Subduing an S-grade monster in the Tutorial was a feat that was achieved only by the best of the best among players. 

These players were then branded as the Pioneers of their batch. 

S-grade monsters were akin to an improbable wall to these Level 1 inexperienced Players. Not to mention S-grade, even SSS-grade players who were not adept at their skills, could barely perform a good fight. 

And now, in the Inner part of the Wilderness, a group of players challenged to break this wall and write their first epic. 

"How proficient are you with your skill?", Kevin asked. 

"barely!"

"Ahmmm, a little" 

"It's my first time using this!" 

The other three people behind him replied. Hearing their words, Kevin doubted their chance of success. 

"Do you really think we could kill that monster!", Alab asked as even with 800+ stacked damage, he was still unconfident. 

Kevin took the sword from Althea shortly. 

"Hey! That's my sword!", Alab retorted

"This will be more effective in my hand", Kevin replied as he threw a rusty sword at Alab. 

It was an E-grade item! (T_T) 

"What the?!", Alab could only say some words as he felt his body shaking from the tremor. Apparently, the monster was getting closer. Its mouth was wide open ready to gnaw at its prey. 

"Put me down" 

Everyone readied their spell at the sight of the monster. 

Hiraya removed herself from Alab's arms and with her limped body, she stood on the ground. Her arms pointing forward. 

Althea composed herself as she readied her [Life Drain] hoping that it would restrict the monster even by a little. 

Alab, feeling nostalgic about the rusty sword as he held it up upfront. 

And finally, Kevin held 'his' new S-grade sword as the silhouettes of swords gushed out his body. 

With a breath, he uttered. 

"Listen, when the monster enters our range, we will launch our spell at the same time", Kevin said as his aura turned fiercer. 

 "Noted!"

"o–okay"

"Ready!" 

*step step

Tremors continually overwhelmed the area. The Trex opened its mouth as its sharp teeth clanged in excitement. The fire in its eyes reflected greed as they swirled and get stronger. And as it entered the 10 meters range before its prey, it released the might of an S-grade with its domineering roar. 

*ROARRRR

At the same time, four voices resonated in the area…

"LIFE DRAIN!"

"ULGRAM'S BREATH!"

"DOMINEERING SWORD SLASH!"

"STACK!"