Morse’s deep, powerful voice was like a massive boulder dropped into a still lake, sending ripples through the deathly silent clearing.
“This is a rookie team? Has being an adventurer become this competitive?”
“Are you kidding me! It’s already over?”
“Steel Axe was instakilled?”
After a brief silence, the onlookers finally snapped out of their shock, and an uncontrollable clamor erupted.
They whispered among themselves, their gazes shifting toward the three young figures in the center of the field. The initial contempt and mockery had completely transformed into sheer horror.
It was a landslide.
A total, utter crushing.
From the start of the battle to the end, not even a few minutes had passed.
Barton and his team’s tactical coordination had been mature and cautious, perfectly reflecting the strength expected of a C-rank party.
But in front of their opponents, they were like children playing games, torn apart with ease. Whether it was a frontal assault, a flank, or long-range suppression, everything had been dismantled in an instant.
Barton curled up on the ground in agony. His chest was corroded beyond recognition, and every breath brought a searing, burning pain.
Kahn lay not far away, clutching his pierced shoulder. His face was as pale as paper, and he didn’t even have the strength to stand.
Ella stood where she was, staring blankly at her longbow lying on the ground. Her eyes were filled with confusion.
They had lost. It was a complete and utter defeat without any suspense.
Under the complicated gazes of the crowd, Helos crossed her arms and walked toward Barton and Kahn with unhurried steps.
She looked down at the two men, who had completely lost their ability to fight. Through her mask, she issued a soft “tch” sound.
Curling her lip, she reached into her belt and pulled out two bottles of Life Potions that shimmered with a crimson glow. She didn’t even bother to bend over, simply tossing the two bottles onto the ground next to them.
“Drink them,” she said. Her voice was cold and devoid of emotion.
Barton and Kahn were both stunned. They looked at the potion bottles that had rolled to their hands, then up at the mysterious masked girl. For a moment, they couldn’t react.
“What?” Helos arched an eyebrow. “Are you expecting me to feed you?”
The two finally snapped out of it. They struggled to pick up the bottles, uncorked them, and downed the red liquid.
The next moment, a warm and pure life force instantly spread through their bodies!
Under the unbelievable stares of everyone present, the bloody wounds on Barton’s chest — which had been corroded by the Kiss of Thorns — began to heal at a rate visible to the naked eye!
The bleeding in Kahn’s shoulder, which had been pierced by the Armor-Piercing Spike, stopped immediately. The piercing pain receded like the tide.
In the span of just over ten seconds, the horrific-looking injuries on the two men had mostly healed.
“Wh-What kind of potion is that?!”
“My God, that healing effect — it’s almost on par with the Church’s High-Grade Holy Water!”
The surrounding adventurers erupted into another wave of exclamations. The way they looked at Helos shifted from shock to a form of awe.
However, before Barton and Kahn could recover from the miraculous healing, a cold silver light flashed before their eyes.
Helos had drawn her slender Mithril Sword at some point. The sharp tip of the blade was now resting steadily against Barton’s throat.
“Next time you want to look down on people,” her voice was like a winter wind, biting and frigid, “measure your own level first.”
With that, she didn’t give them another look. She sheathed her sword with a crisp click, turned around, and walked toward Julius and Gavi without looking back.
“Let’s go.”
The three of them walked through the crowd, which spontaneously parted to make a path for them.
They left behind nothing but gazes full of awe and curiosity, as well as the members of Steel Axe, who remained immersed in a mix of shock and humiliation.
***
When they returned to the Adventurer’s Guild, the atmosphere in the hall was entirely different from when they had first arrived.
The adventurers who had previously looked at them with contempt or mockery now instinctively kept their distance, their eyes filled with an indefinable wariness.
Morse led the three of them directly to a private room behind the counter.
“I keep my promises.” He looked at the three of them, his expression very solemn. “From this moment on, your party is officially promoted to D-rank.”
He placed three brand-new bronze badges engraved with the letter “D” on the table.
“With the strength you displayed just now, a direct promotion to C-rank would have been more than earned.”
Morse looked at Helos and explained slowly, “However, considering your age and experience, the Guild must be responsible for your safety. Starting from D-rank and accumulating experience and reputation step by step is the most stable choice.”
“I have no objection.” Helos nodded, picking up a badge and twirling it between her fingers. “As long as we can take missions to hunt magical beasts, it doesn’t matter.”
Her goal had been clear from the start.
“Very well.” Morse nodded in approval. He appreciated this lack of arrogance. “Then, as an official adventurer party,” he looked at the three of them and offered one last suggestion, “you should choose a codename for yourselves.”
“A codename?” Helos paused.
“That’s right,” Morse explained. “A catchy codename is an adventurer party’s best calling card. It will help your name spread across the continent.”
Hearing this, Helos rubbed her chin and fell into thought.
Julius and Gavi both turned to look at her. Clearly, the right to make this decision rested entirely with their “leader.”
“How about the Silver Light Knights?” Julius suggested tentatively, only to receive a massive eye-roll from Helos.
“Too tacky,” she rejected him ruthlessly.
“Heart of Trials?”
“Too edgy.”
“Then… the Victory Trio?”
“Will you just shut up?”
Helos glared at him with disgust. She then scanned her two companions.
‘A silent, deadly guardian who’s like a doll — well, she actually is a doll. A future saint knight who holds the Holy Light and a heart for justice.’
‘Though, he doesn’t seem as serious as when we first met. I wonder who he’s been learning from?’
‘And then there’s me, a cursed duke’s daughter with no mana, forced to rely on “little tricks” to fight.’
‘The three of us are like parts of a machine that were forced together.’
Zero.
A number that represented nothingness, but also the beginning of everything.
A faint smile touched the corners of Helos’s lips beneath her mask.
“Since this is the first time any of us have been adventurers, and our composition is so unique — it’s likely there’s never been a combination like this in history.”
She looked up at Morse and Julius, speaking in a tone full of confidence. “Everything starts from zero — so our team will be called ‘Type Zero.'”
Watch out for lawyers with that name, kid.