Belian and Lisa arrived at their destination. Their quest led them to the east of Rostanta.

There was a forest which was inhabited by a large pack of monsters who resembled wolves.

When they got there, it was already night which was the time for the monsters to get active.

"I know it’s late for me to ask but will you be fine with this mission? I mean, you have to abstain from using your magic..." Lisa wondered curiously.

If they did not want the forest to get burnt down, Belian had to be careful with the way he would fight.

"It will be fine."

Belian summoned his relic in his hand.

"This way of fighting suits me more." he commented, staring at his sword.

"Heh, I guess that’s true."

Lisa, too, put her hand on the handle of her rapier.

"Let’s enter."

Lisa nodded.

The two left their small camp near their carriage, where the driver was taking a nap, and headed into the forest.

"..."

It was still silent as they marched forward. Only their own footsteps as well as the sound of rustling, which they caused, were heard. The moonlight shone through the leaves of the trees, offering them some kind of illumination.

However, they did not notice any living beings around them. There were only the corpses of animals which died as food for their hunters.

"Wait..." Belian warned Lisa quietly as he stretched his hand to the side.

"...?"

Lisa raised her guard.

They did not move from their spot and paid attention to their surroundings.

"!"

Belian swiftly moved to his right when he sensed something trying to ambush them from there.

A two-headed wolf jumped out of the bushes with its fangs bared at them.

However, it quickly met its demise as Belian slashed it in two pieces as if it was nothing.

And when he cut the first one down, another one appeared from behind. This time, Lisa tried to attack but before she could even draw her rapier from its sheath, Belian swung his sword at the wolf-like monster without even looking.

That attack marked the beginning of the monster wave as more and more wolves started to get out of their hiding spots, trying to jump at them from every angle.

But those attacks did not faze Belian as he cut one after another down with one sword swing and without breaking a sweat.

"..."

Lisa, meanwhile, had distanced herself from Belian without him noticing. She just stood there and dumbfoundedly watched him kill the monsters who apparently only targeted him.

"!"

She thought that the quest would end smoothly for her as she still did not have to lift a single finger, however, that dream-like scenario shattered quickly when she noticed a presence behind her.

Just in time, she dodged when the presence behind her punched the ground.

"What the..."

She lifted her face and inspected the appearance of the attacker.

It was a wolf who stood on two legs. Usually, it also had two legs in the front, but those were now resembling the arms and hands of a person. The monster was at least 7 feet tall and had well-toned muscles.

"Tch!"

Finally, she drew her weapon and dashed towards the enemy.

"!"

However, as she dashed forward, she perceived the appearance of two other monsters of the same type standing on each side of her. And because she was already in her motion, she could not redirect her trajectory.

"Let’s relocate!" Belian shouted.

He kicked and threw two wolf monsters he was dealing with at the two bigger monsters on each of Lisa’s sides, distracting them from her. This gave her the opportunity to focus on the one in front of her.

She charged the tip of her rapier with lightning and unleashed a thunder thrust at it.

The monster took it at its chest and was pushed into the depths of the forest.

Following that, she and Belian tried to search for an open space that was also brighter. Such a place would enable them to get an overview of how many enemies there were and where they were. It would also strip the enemies from being able to launch surprise attacks.

They soon found a place that fitted their criteria and picked up their pace while having monsters chase after them.

"..."

The two students looked each other in the eyes and nodded firmly, relaying their thoughts without the need for words.

And when they reached the center of the open space in the midst of the forest, Belian and Lisa suddenly rotated on their heels and faced the pack of wolves.

They were still dashing towards them but Belian and Lisa decided this time to go on the offense again, too.

Gripping their weapons tightly, they stormed the group of monsters.

Lisa pierced one after another with her lightning-enhanced rapier, whereas Belian killed them with his sword swings.

And by the time the two bigger wolves and the other wolf who had a burning wound on his chest appeared, the horde consisting of the smaller ones was already defeated.

"..."

Lisa was slightly out of breath from all the running and thrusting.

She shortly glanced over at Belian who still seemed fine. Her gaze then fell to the wolves he had killed.

"Good grief..." she muttered with a wry smile.

Belian had previously cut down dozens of wolves when they were attacked for the first time, however, that number looked cute in comparison to the number he had slayed just now.

It felt like Belian killed two to three wolves for every wolf Lisa had slaughtered.

Even the three wolves noticed that they were strong, thus, they approached them with utmost caution.

"..."

Belian, too, walked over to them slowly until they stood in front of each other, leaving no space between them.

The wolf, who stood before him, grumbled and clenched his fists.

It roared when it attempted to hit Belian but that roar was bluntly cut off like its head.

The headless body slumped down and colored the grass with its red blood.

Realizing that they would stand no chance, the two other wolves began to retreat.

But Belian obviously would not let them do as they pleased.

He went right after them and cut off the legs of one of them.

In swift and elegant movements, Belian raised his sword and finished it by cutting it in two.

"I won’t let you escape." Lisa stated sternly.

With her incredible speed, she managed to outrun the wolf and get in front of it.

Her rapier and arm were retracted until she landed the finishing thrust in its sturdy neck. Blood splattered from there and even got on her face.

"We’re done with this area. Let’s check the rest of the forest." Belian declared calmly.

"Yeah."

Lisa followed after him after wiping off the blood from her face.

And as she looked at his back, she was reminded once more of who Belian was.

Because of individuals like Mika back then and Lily now, his strength and achievements were overshadowed, however, that did not change the fact that he was once the strongest student in his year.

A quest, which was designed for white-class students, was handled with ease by a person like him and even more troublesome enemies would tuck in their tails and try to run away from him.

Back then, even Lisa would have struggled a little bit more despite being an above-average white-class student.

But then she had to remind herself that she was now a part of the monster class. A class where even the weakest were leagues above the rest of the entire academy.

"Is something wrong?" Belian wondered, noticing Lisa’s gaze.

"N-nothing!" she stuttered awkwardly as she hurried over to him.

Belian was indeed a strong individual who grew even stronger in the past two years.

If one would compare the current Belian and Lily, then most people would say that Lily was now the better one out of the two. If one looked at it from a larger scale, then Lily’s might may be considered a national treasure, capable of going toe-to-toe with entire nations.

The same could not be said with Belian.

However, if it came down to a one-on-one between him and anybody else, including Lily, then it would be safe to say that Belian would be the more dangerous one.

"..."

Belian sighed after they checked the other areas.

"It seems like there were no other threats." he said.

"So we’ve completed the quest, right? Why the sigh then?" Lisa asked, tilting her head.

Belian looked at his sword again.

"I was looking forward for a challenge." he admitted.

"H-huh...?" 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Lisa was baffled by his statement.

But little did she know that Belian showed just a little of what he was truly capable of. He hoped for a challenge in order to train.

From his point of view, doing quests meant nothing to him anymore if there were no strong enemies.

What he needed was an opponent who was at least on the level of an A-rank demon.