An S-ranked Party’s Burden Tamer, I Awoke My True Power by Having My Familiar Killed - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Unexpected Hardships【The Party’s Perspective】

“Damn! Why are so many monsters coming out on the way back!?”

“Roig and I will take the vanguard! Mei! Quella! Support us!”

“It’s useless! Fade-san, please stay behind us!”

“Why!?”

Fade’s party had made it to the fourth floor after sacrificing Land, but now, they were faced with an unexpected uphill battle on their way back.

“This dungeon isn’t only about what is in front of us! Monsters are appearing from every direction!”

“But the number in the front is overwhelming!”

“Nevertheless, we won’t be able to recover if no one guards the back!”

“Kuu…”

Quella felt like screaming. Land, who had been told that he would only slow down their escape, was the one who had been clearing the monsters and helping them evade the dungeon traps. She never would have thought that they would struggle so much on a floor that wasn’t the dungeon boss’s floor.

“Land-san…”

She had noticed such a thing too late. Meiru was also just noticing that something was different.

“Roig, your aggro is sloppy.”

[TN: Aggro is a skill used by a party’s Tank (mainly), but can also be used by the other classes, to direct mobs to prioritize them over the other members of the party.]

“Aghh! Shut it! There’s too many of them! It will be useless doncha think!?”

Certainly just as Roig had said, there were a lot of monsters. But still, Meiro had realized as she ran behind him, how Land had been able to use the aggro skillfully as compared to Roig.

“Kuu… to struggle like this was unexpected”

“Dammit! This wouldn’t have happened if that little shit hadn’t died with our luggage! My sword’s become so rusty it won’t cut anything!”

Roig’s excuse didn’t resonate with the other three, particularly the leader Fade. It wouldn’t have been possible to carry all those supplies without Land.

“Shit!”

They had thought that Land was only a burden. They only saw him as an existence that was truly useless, an annoyance, someone who slowed their progress and was just another mouth they had to feed.

As far as Fade was concerned, Land was not just his childhood friend, but also a prodigal child who was the talk of their town growing up. Fade arbitrarily thought of him as a rival, even though Land didn’t see it as such. Having pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind, he had made Land carry the luggage so that it would be harder for him to participate in battles and earn experience. It was Fade who had done his best to force all of the chores onto Land so that the party wouldn’t notice his excellence. Land became so accustomed to his position that before he knew it, Fade had forgotten about the circumstances entirely. It had all gone according to his plan. In their early childhood, Fade had even sometimes asked Land to teach him things. But now it had gotten to the point where Fade was being praised as the next hero.

Even after becoming an S-ranked adventurer and being called the next hero, there was an obvious difference in natural talent that could not be made up for. This fact ate at Fade’s mind.

“Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!”

The other party members looked taken aback for a moment at the sudden change from Fade’s prior lack of emotion, but passed it off as a sort of motivation and refocused on their current situation.

“Tsk… At any rate, I think it will be better once we get to the third level! Quella! Don’t stop using recovery magic!”

“I understand.” She replied as Roig moved forward, preparing to take the full force of the monsters.

The S-ranked party had been forced into unexpected struggles, but they had managed to return to the guild while avoiding some of the approaching monster