After around two hours, the team reached the bottom of the crater, leaving the troublesome icy needles behind.
But now, they had to climb the gigantic and long slope to the north. The Volcano Wyrm Zone had a very high altitude. After all, the Zone was essentially one gigantic mountain, over ten kilometers tall.
After a bit of climbing, the officer and One noticed something.
One went over to Zero. "As my first order, I don't want you to get involved."
Zero had also noticed what was going on, and he nodded.
"Boys, who wants to prove themselves?" the officer shouted with a smirk to the team behind him. "Who's willing to take on an Early General Stage beast with only two people?"
The Bootlickers wanted to jump forward to prove themselves, but when they heard that they were only allowed to fight in a pair, most of them gave up.
But there were still some of them that were interested.
"I'm willing," One suddenly shouted.
The Bootlickers gnashed their teeth when they heard One shout. Right now, they regretted not shouting sooner.
"Fine, and who will be your partner?" the officer asked with a smirk.
One looked over at Two.
Two realized what One had planned, scratched his chin, and nodded. "I'm also willing," he shouted.
"Alright, then get to it," the officer shouted. "There's a Hardfire Spider to the east of us. Everyone else, you can take a pause and watch our comrades fight!"
Right now, some of the Bootlickers were happy that they didn't jump forward while the Scumbags only snickered.
A Hardfire Spider had a deadly fighting style. It wasn't uncommon for a team to have a casualty while hunting one.
One and Two didn't seem to mind as they charged towards the east.
After some seconds, the two of them noticed a two-meter-tall and very wide spider in front of them. It was seemingly made of hardened magma, and it quickly noticed the two people charging at it.
"How confident are you in killing it?" One asked.
Two took out the long needle-like spear from his back. "This weapon is made to kill beasts."
"Great," One said. "Then, I will be the distraction while you kill it."
After One said that, he charged forward. The others couldn't tell what kind of ability he was using, but One had become very fast while charging forward.
CRRRK!
The ice around the spider turned into steam as its body began to glow in a hot and bright light.
Then, it also charged toward its opponents.
BANG!
The spider jumped, its body leaving behind a cloud of steam.
One suddenly changed direction and shot to the side.
BOOOM!
The spider landed, destroying the surroundings as fire appeared around it.
The watching soldiers only snickered when they saw the Hardfire Spider's attack.
Hardfire Spiders had the rare Lava Affinity, a mix of the Fire and Earth Affinity.
They had the explosiveness of fire, which increased their speed, and the weight and defense of Earth.
Of course, the tradeoff was that Hardfire Spiders couldn't attack from a distance.
But they were extremely deadly in melee range.
CRK!
One's curved, long sword hit one of the spider's armored legs, making its armor explode off its legs.
Some of the watching soldiers knew what One had used and recognized his Affinity.
He had infused his weapon with Metal Mana, which gave it a certain property of destruction.
A Metal Mana wasn't very useful against most beasts, but when it came to heavily armored beasts, it could show amazing potential.
Several warriors called warriors with a Metal Affinity Armor Breakers.
When the spider noticed that a big part of its armor had been destroyed, it became enraged, and fire shot out from around its body.
One continued circling around the spider as he protected his face with his curved sword. The sweltering heat could severely injure an Early General Stage warrior, but One was wearing a set of armor that was powerful enough to resist the heat.
The spider turned towards One and swiped at him with one of its legs.
Originally, it had wanted to bite him, but this annoying insect was too fast and nimble. The spider couldn't properly align itself with its target.
One noticed that the leg was coming, jumped, and put his sword in front of him.
CRACK!
A big piece of armor fell off the spider's leg, but One was thrown several meters into the distance.
However, One easily landed without any issues.
"Job's done!" One said with a voice that suggested a smirk.
"Counter Execution," Two's voice entered One's ears.
One snorted. "Fine. I said I would prove my trustworthiness. For now, let me trust you first. You better not disappoint me."
Two didn't answer.
The spider exploded with fire again.
BOOOOM!
A gigantic explosion came out of the spider's back, and it jumped forward at incredible speeds.
One held his curved sword in a blocking position but didn't move.
Ssshhh.
Some quiet sounds of wind and snow came from between the spider and One.
And then, the sound exploded into the howling sounds of a heavy storm as snow and ice gathered in a previously empty location between the two combatants.
Two had appeared between them, his thin spear pulled back.
His left arm caressed the spear, and its tip was coated in dark-blue ice.
BANG!
Two exploded forward and struck forward with his spear.
The spider was currently jumping with its underside first, but it would have landed before reaching its target.
However, now, Two had intercepted it, and it couldn't stop its jump.
Two put his entire power into his spear.
And then, he pierced forward.
The ice on the spear hit the spider's underside.
CRACK!
The ice and the armor on the spider's underside broke into pieces.
At that moment, the ground beneath Two exploded in Ice, which allowed him to release a second strike.
CRACK!
The tip of the spear punched through the spider's underside, and the spider released painful screeches.
CRRRR!
The weight of the spider's charge pushed Two back, leaving behind a deep trail of destruction.
BANG!
Two's back hit the side of One's blocking sword.
CRACK!
The spear left the backside of the spider, and the combatants stopped sliding.
The feet of the spider were wriggling helplessly as they couldn't touch the ground beneath them.
One jumped on Two's shoulders and jumped forward.
His curved sword left a black arc in its wake.
SHING!
The curved sword cleanly passed through the spider's unarmored head.
This was the weakness of Hardfire Spiders. Their entire body was armored, but their heads couldn't deal with all the heat of their own bodies, leaving them unarmored there.
The spider's body seized and twitched.
But the fight was already over.
"See?" One said as he landed. "I didn't betray your trust, right?"
Two pulled his spear back and let the spider fall to the ground.
"You didn't," Two said. "I think you can view this part as a good first impression."
"Great!" One said.
Zero watched all of this from a distance.
'They're quite powerful,' he thought.
"Well done!" the officer shouted with some polite clapping. "This will enter the report. If you continue like this, you will surely receive a bonus at the end of the year."
"You can leave the corpse for the wildlife. As the agreement stated, you forfeit the corpses of the beasts you kill in here. Of course, the payment is more than enough to make up for it."
One and Two walked back to the group under the interested gazes of their comrades.
Several of the Rookies were amazed, while the Scumbags and Bootlickers watched those two with furrowed brows.
These two were too strong.
If these two kept performing this well, their own bonuses would be put into jeopardy.
Some of the Scumbags looked over at Zero.
If they could make the Numbers fight each other…
