Juvia did well, using water magic to destroy the golem to pass the store's test and get permission to be an adventurer from the master.
Since that happened, it was inevitable that next she'd take on a job. After all, Juvia had no money. She couldn't afford an inn, nor could she buy any food.
Juvia had the option of camping out for around three days with the supplies she brought with her, but she didn't have any backup after that. So making money as fast as possible was top priority. For now, Juvia took on an easy-looking monster hunting job.
"So, why are you following me?"
"Hey, don't get your panties in a bunch. I'm just being a little nosy. Like, I introduced you to this job, you know? So I'd feel bad if you up and died all of a sudden."
Walking next to Juvia was the red haired young woman who introduced her to the job, holding the sword that seemed to be her favorite in one hand. Her normal walking pace was probably faster, but she was matching Juvia, showing her consideration.
"Still, it was a good choice to go exterminate leps. Leps used to be rabbits, so they aren't terribly strong, and they haven't changed too much, either. They're just really violent bunnies that're a size bigger. As long as they don't let their guard down, even an average villager can kill one. Did you know? Monsters are just animals that have been changed with mana."
"I know that much. Don't make fun of me."
Juvia was currently making her way through the vegetation of a forest near Ydalir. Recently, there'd been an outbreak of leps here, so the job this time was to reduce their numbers some. Basically, she was just getting rid of pests.
Leps… Officially named 'Morrisleps', were weak monsters as the red haired girl described, but they reproduced very quickly. They were annoying if there were too many of them, and they'd ruin the ecosystem of the forest, so they needed to be culled regularly, but it was too small a job to call in the actual army every time. That was why it was a job for adventurers.
Of course, just because it was a job to exterminate leps didn't mean that nothing but leps would show up, and sometimes adventurers would have to deal with some annoyingly strong monsters.
However, even if adventurers died, it wouldn't be a breach of contract or a scam since taking jobs and dying and everything in between was all on the adventurer's shoulders.
"Look, there they are."
The red haired girl seemed to have noticed something as she looked up from the ground. Her eyes were turned to a group of rabbits around 50 meters ahead.
Her mouth curved upwards in a violent expression, and she readied her sword, resting it on her shoulder.
Won't that cut into your own shoulder if you aren't careful? Juvia thought, but decided not to say anything. She probably just wanted to look cool.
"There are seven, eight… Ten leps, huh?"
"Each one is weak, but having to deal with ten at once will be a little troublesome. Should we do it?"
"Didn't I tell you not to make fun of me?" Juvia said, sounding miffed, before swiftly using her right pointer finger to draw a circle in the air.
The basics for magic were three processes.
First was concentration. One needed to concentrate the mana inside them into a single point.
The "vessel" to store mana until it was fired was completed by drawing a magic circle, and it would stay there until the magic was complete. In the circle was a pentagram. Each point represented an element, starting with wood at the top, then fire, earth, metal, and water in clockwise order. Then, one drew lines from wood to earth, earth to water, water to fire, fire to metal, and lastly, metal to wood. The lines showed the relationships between the elements. On top of that, a circle around the pentagram to represent the moon was drawn. And on top of that, one more circle for the sun.
All that took three seconds. Juvia was fast enough to be considered a veteran by human standards. At the very least, a newbie mage would need around ten seconds to do that.
Incantations? Such things didn't exist.
"First process, complete. Next, moving on to the second process. Converting mana. 120 MP into water mana, emit as ether. Construct magic formula, reinforce the circle. Charge complete, waiting to fire."
Juvia poured her mana into the completed vessel and fixed it in space.
It only took an extra two seconds for a total of five seconds, but the leps noticed them. But it still wasn't a problem. There was more than enough distance to make it.
That was the second process. Right now, the vessel only had pure mana, which hadn't been changed in any way. Letting it go now would do nothing.
It might cause the mana-hating flugels some discomfort, but that's all.
Then came the third process—to change the mana into a phenomenon.
"Second process complete. Switching over to the third process. Changing to phenomenon. Isolate fire and wood mana, excise impurities, adjust density. Everything is within margin of error, there are no problems. Accelerate mana circulation, change to phenomenon. Third process complete."
Taking another two seconds, Juvia completed her magic in only seven seconds.
Juvia's palm emitted a mass of fake water that was transformed from mana, and once it was complete, it waited to fire.
It was just fake water that would return to mana once the spell was over, but it wasn't much different from the real thing until it disappeared. No, it was more compressed and concentrated than real water could ever be in nature, so it was far more dangerous. Weighing around 100 tons, the water was being compressed, ignoring the laws of physics. Of course, if such a thing hit you, it would do more than just hurt.
"Impressive! That's super fast! It hasn't even been ten seconds?!"
"Human magic is too slow. You all should be able to at least shoot off some weak magic in ten seconds… Go, 'Aqua Blast!'"
Apparently, the red haired girl had thought the leps would reach them before Juvia finished her magic.
She wasn't wrong. In actuality, it would be true for most humans who were just starting as mages, and they'd probably need someone to buy them time to finish their spell. However, Juvia was a long-lived elf who could train for several hundred years. Common sense didn't apply to her.
In fact, for Juvia, it was an insult to already be surprised at something of this level.
The final form of magic that all elves strived for was to be able to shoot off spells instantly with no need for preparation. Right now, it was but a distant, unreachable peak, but Juvia had decided that she would get there some day. Still, that was far-off in the future. Right now, it was all she could manage to blast through four lined-up rabbits.
"Four, huh? My aim was a little off."
"No, that was great for a preemptive attack! You did great!" the red haired girl said happily as she faced the six leps that had finally reached them head on.
Each one was around an adult man's thighs in height, and the red haired girl sword flashed as it swung against these giant rabbits.
When she made her first swing, three of the leps who had unguardedly charged at her were cut down pitifully, turning into hunks of meat. Then, the red haired girl's sword flashed again as she attacked with a backswing. This one bisected the last three leps that were shocked into freezing because of the first attack.
The most surprising thing was the red haired girl's skills, as she managed to kill six of them in only two swings. It seemed like she was relying on the sharpness of her blade, but no, it was more the weight of it. The sound the sword made when it was being swung wasn't normal.
"That sword… How heavy is it?"
"Dunno. I picked the heaviest one I could so that it'll still kill things when I swing even if the blade is dull. Well, personally, I'd like a heavier one, but… I have no money."
The red haired girl laughed merrily as Juvia internally recategorized her into someone with idiotic strength. Humans were more physically powerful than elves (rather, elves were just way too weak), but even so, her strength was abnormal.
I see. So she isn't just arrogant.
To Juvia, she was strong enough that it didn't make any sense why she was still an adventurer. Juvia even figured it was a bit of a waste, since the girl could probably become a knight.
"Now then, usually heads are the proof of extermination, but with how big these are, you can probably take back their entire bodies if you stuff them in hard enough. Their meat is delicious and nutritious, too. It's kind of a waste to just take their heads and throw away the rest."
"…You're going to eat that?"
"Well, of course. Adventurers are eternally poor. If you can save, you need to save. Ah, right. Elves don't like meat, do they?"
"It's not just elves. The flugels don't like meat either, right?"
"For them, it's more like they don't like meat that has mana in it or meat from birds. If it's regular animals, they actually like it, it seems."
While talking, the red haired girl started to stuff the carcasses into a dirty bag that she'd brought with her. It was a pretty gruesome, or rather bloody, sight.
Juvia, who wasn't used to it at all, averted her eyes as she started to turn green.
"Not used to this, huh?"
"…Yeah. Since we fundamentally don't kill animals. Much less gather their bodies or cut off their heads…"
"Get used to it. You're an Adventurer now."
"I know."
As was mentioned before, leps were violent rabbits that were a little large.
In other words, from the outside, they were uselessly cute, which stirred up unpleasant feelings in Juvia. There were even women that found leps too cute to kill. Of course, they were all rich ladies with heads full of flowers.
"Now then, let's go back for now. It'd be hard to keep going carrying this much stuff, after all."
"It's not over with just this trip?"
"No. Depending on the job, they warn you that it'll take several days. The job is actually pretty easy this time, since it's so close to Ydalir."
With a grunt of effort, the red haired girl heaved up the bag that was starting to drip with blood. Juvia could tell blood was pooling at the bottom of the bag, but it didn't seem like the girl cared.
At the very least, that's impossible for me, Juvia thought.
The red haired girl started walking, and Juvia followed.
All that was left to do was go back the way they came. There wasn't any guarantee they wouldn't encounter more monsters, but no problems should occur as long as they didn't let their guards down.
Juvia was about to do just that, since she'd just finished her first job, but that was prevented by the sound of an animal roaring.
"…Huh? Something big is coming this way."
"Ah?"
Juvia had already heard it, but the red haired girl probably hadn't sensed anything yet. Elves had better hearing than humans. But the sound gradually grew closer, and the red haired girl's expression grew more stern.
She dropped the bag to the ground and readied her sword. Her expression said that she was ready for anything.
"Yeah, there's something bad coming this way. It's going to be pretty big. Ready your magic now."
"Got it."
There was no need for the red haired girl to tell her; Juvia was already preparing a spell. She could tell just from the sounds how big the enemy was.
And from the roar, she could tell how dangerous it was. Either signal was plenty to consider the enemy a danger.
Apparently, there was something huge in this forest that wasn't indicated in the job form, and it was coming this way.
"Are there large monsters in this forest?"
"There shouldn't be anything other than worldvines… but this one's clearly different."
Worldvines were giant boars that lived in the forest. They were over two meters tall. They were plenty dangerous to a newbie adventurer, but the sounds the two of them were hearing were clearly different. It was larger and sounded much more dangerous. And it was coming closer at a remarkable speed; the two of them couldn't help but get nervous.
"…It's here!" the red haired girl said, and at the same time, the trees were mowed over, revealing it.
Even at the smallest estimate, it was over 15 meters tall, and it looked just like a giant reptile. Its large mouth was lined with fangs, and it seemed like it would rip a person in half with one bite. It had tiny, almost wilted-looking arms and a blackened body, as well as a fat tail.
It was described as a dragon, and its silhouette was incredibly close to that feared creature, but it wasn't a dragon. No, in the first place, it wasn't a monster. Only a simple "animal." But its viciousness and power were stronger and more monster-like than some monsters's, and it was feared by many people. A portion of scholars even stated, "Why not just call it a monster already?"
Since ancient times, they'd existed in the world in small numbers, and if they were mutated by mana, they'd turn into a fearsome dragon. People named them "Dinosaur," a name filled with fear.
"I-Isn't that a dinosaur?! What the hell is a dinosaur doing in this forest?!"
"A-And that shape… This is bad, that's a dinorex; it's a large carnivore!"
"So it's the worst one?!"
Dinorex, a large dinosaur. Among the small handful of dinosaur species, it was the strongest and worst. It possessed unparalleled aggressiveness and might, and it considered everything in front of it food. Humans, animals, monsters, even grimmfolk… As long as it was nearby, it was an enemy and therefore food. It simply used pure power to eat and kill everything, as if it was saying 'You all are so puny, bothering with your monsters or magic or whatever!"
They didn't mind getting some wounds, they wouldn't stop, and they wouldn't falter.
Such a natural-born monster was in front of Juvia and her friend right now, unleashing its cry.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"
The cry that was hard to apply language to spread through the forest, shaking the very air. That voice, which probably sent all the surrounding animals and monsters running for their lives, sapped away the two's will to fight.
"I-I get it now. This thing is at fault for the boom of leps. Because it came to the forest, all the leps's natural predators ran."
"Then why are only the leps left?"
"As if I'd know. Maybe they're so small they aren't even worth eating? And this is just the worst… That bastard just had a fight. It's all pumped up since it got hurt!"
The dinorex was covered in wounds here and there, and they were still bleeding. It was surprising that there was something that could wound the invincible-seeming dinorex, but whatever it was probably wasn't alive anymore.
But more importantly, since the dinorex was left alive but wounded, it was still agitated and on a rampage.
"Shit!! We have to do it! Hey, elf girl! Don't go pissing yourself in fear now!"
"Right back at you!" Juvia shouted, as if to drive away her fear, before unleashing the spell she had prepared.
It was the same spell, Aqua Blast, that killed so many leps earlier.
The bullet of compressed water flew straight and knocked the dinorex's jaw upward.
The ball of water looked like a sphere that was a little too big to carry in both arms, but its weight was over a ton, since it ignored the laws of physics.
In other words, it was as if the dinorex was struck with a bullet that weighed a ton.
However, although the dinorex's jaw flew upwards, there wasn't any more damage than that, and in fact, all it did was turn its anger-clouded attention on Juvia.
"No good, it didn't work!"
"Well, from the looks of it, our customer over there's several tons heavy… No wonder it wouldn't do much."
If one was asked whether or not an impact of one ton was weak or strong, it would be strong. At the very least, if a human was hit with it, they wouldn't just end up with some injuries. However, it was comparable to simply being tackled by a one-ton animal, and many animals as heavy as that existed in nature. Of course, none of those creatures could bring down a dinorex. It would probably just use its simple weight advantage to sweep them away.
In other words, Juvia needed something more powerful in order to defeat it.
"TAAAKE THIISSSSS!!"
The red haired girl made a sweep with her sword, slamming her weapon into the leg of the dinorex. But the hit was shallow. The sword was stopped by the dinorex's legs and wouldn't keep going.
It wasn't as if there was no damage. Her sword definitely bit into the dinorex's flesh, and it was bleeding as a result. However, given its thick muscles and the difference in size, it wasn't a large wound at all.
Even a strike that would cleave a human in two was like being cut with a small knife to a dinosaur. As all that strike did was stoke the flames of the dinorex's anger, it could be said to have had a detrimental effect.
"JAOOOOOOOO!!"
"Whooaahh?!"
The dinorex swept at the red haired girl with its thick tail.
The red haired girl managed to react and jumped backwards to evade, leaving the tail sweep to miss her and continue on to easily snap a couple trees.
The power behind that attack was scary; if it had connected, it would most likely have killed her in one hit.
Continuing on, the dinorex opened its jaw and lunged at the red haired girl with its sharp fangs.
The red haired girl was quick-witted, though… And by a hair's breadth, she dodged the dinorex, landing next to Juvia.
"No good, my sword doesn't do much either! Hey, elf girl, don't you have any more powerful spells?"
"I do! But it'll take time!"
"How much?"
"Twenty… No, I can do it in fifteen seconds!"
"Fifteen seconds…"
Fifteen seconds. Considering it would be a high-tier spell, it was plenty fast.
At the very least, if a newbie human mage tried to do the same thing, they'd take like a minute, and even a pretty well-known mage would need around thirty seconds. So by those standards, fifteen seconds was, once again, plenty fast. It was fast… But—
"I'll have to keep that busy for fifteen seconds, huh… That's gonna be hard."
Their enemy was a dinosaur, and a dinorex at that. The difficulty was on a whole other level.
However, it was the job of a front-liner to buy enough time for back-liners to cast their spells, and it wasn't a situation where she could refuse, either. The red haired girl couldn't land a decisive blow herself, so since she'd be relying on magic to finish the job, she had to take an appropriate amount of risk, too.
"Do it in ten!" The red haired girl made a ridiculous request to Juvia before charging at the dinorex.
Originally, 'impossible' would be a light description for telling someone to cast a spell that takes fifteen seconds in ten. In fact, even being able to cast a spell that would work against a dinorex in fifteen seconds indicated a talent that adventuring parties would flood with requests. Even the red haired girl knew that.
She knew it, but that just showed how much she needed Juvia to achieve the impossible.
"Starting first process. Drawing magic circle. Wood to earth, earth to water, water to fire, fire to metal, and metal to wood. Connecting the pentagram of relationships and surrounding it with the circles of sun and moon. First process complete!"
The red haired girl made a shallow slice into the dinorex before immediately opening up a distance. She didn't have to try to defeat it. As long as she managed to keep its attention, it was fine.
The red haired girl needed to make the dinorex believe she was a threat, therefore concentrating all its attention onto her to buy time. So she didn't need any flashy or vicious attacks, nor did she need to approach too aggressively. She just needed to escape for ten seconds while drawing its attention.
"Next, moving on to the second process. Converting mana. 120 MP into water mana, emit as ether. Constructing magic formula, defining shape. Charging complete, on standby. Second process complete!"
Juvia was muttering a progress report at an incredible speed, but in truth, she didn't actually have to do that. But it wasn't completely without merit. By putting the progress of her spell in words, she could let her friends know how close she was to firing her spell. If the front line could estimate how long it would take for the spell to be completed, they'd have an easier time getting out of the field of fire, lowering the chances of friendly fire.
Rather, staying silent while constructing a spell would be more annoying.
The front line would be unable to estimate when they needed to pull back, and if they were to be suddenly attacked from behind, that would cause them to be unable to dodge, turning friendlies into shields for the enemy.
But depending on circumstances, it could also be a bad move. For example, when the enemies were also human. Since the enemies would also understand speech, it would be like announcing when you were about to attack. Any attack made like that would miss.
On top of that, there was a technique where the mage could report fake progress, but either way, the dinosaur in front of Juvia couldn't understand speech, so that was useless.
"WOAAARRGGGHH!" The red haired girl yelled a battle cry as she continued to attack the dinorex.
Her armor was now damaged, and even grazes left her covered in wounds. It wasn't as if she was weak; it was just that the dinorex was far too strong. Rather, she should be praised for being able to last so long against a dinorex.
"Moving on to the third process. Converting to phenomenon. Isolate fire and wood mana, eliminate all impurities, adjust density. Omit problem check, start compressing. Accelerate mana circulation, convert to phenomenon. Third process complete!"
"I've been waiting for that!"
As soon as Juvia announced that her magic was complete, the red haired girl jumped to the side. She was pretty well-versed on how to cooperate with mages. If the front line didn't pull back, the mages couldn't unleash their spells. So front-liners needed to be able to retreat quickly as well as be able to distract the enemy. Simpletons who could only charge forward would find it impossible to team up with mages.
On that point, she passed. Contrary to her rough personality and manner of speech, she knew when to pull back. Thanks to that, Juvia could promptly fire her magic without worry!
"Cut it apart, Water Jet!"
Immediately after, a laser of water shot out of the magic circle that Juvia had constructed in a straight line.
No, since it was made of water, it wasn't a laser. At the very least, the word was technically wrong, and it wasn't accurate as an example, either. But the red haired girl thought "laser" when she first saw the spell go off.
If a new word were to be invented for it, it would probably be "water flash." It was just that sharp and fast. The water drew a line to its target in an instant and pierced through the dinorex.
But the magic wasn't over yet. It was just starting.
The superfine jet of water that was almost traveling at the speed of sound could cut through diamond.
Juvia moved her hand, and little by little, the flow of water changed heading. When it did, the jet of water moved along with it, easily cutting the dinorex apart. In fact, the water pierced through the dinosaur and even cut apart the trees behind it.
Eventually, the spell attack was over, and at the same time, the severed head of the dinorex made a sound as it fell off. After a delay, the trees behind it also fell over. Looking a little farther away, all the trees for several tens of meters behind the dinosaur were cut down.
"O-Ohhh… That's some amazing power. All the trees behind it are gone, too… I hope the country doesn't come complaining after this."
"The country should have some wood element heaven-arts users. They can just regenerate the trees. Definitely. Well, they'll probably complain a little, but… It's better than being eaten by that thing, no?"
"Haha! You said it!"
The dinorex was defeated, and freed from the tension, the red haired girl laughed together with Juvia.
Neither of them expected to see a dinosaur, but once it was over, it meant that they managed to kill a giant. The results were more than enough for Juvia's first mission. Even a veteran adventurer wouldn't want to take on a dinorex, and a country's soldiers would probably have to be prepared for death. And just two adventurers managed to do it. It was an achievement they should've been proud of.
However, another giant dragon's face came slipping out from the cover of the forest, as if it was aiming for the exact moment they let their guards down. It was the same as the one they just defeated, a dinorex… No, in fact, it was even bigger.
And it showed itself to Juvia and the red haired girl.
"…N-No way."
"I'd like to believe it's a lie, too."
No, no more. I can't take any more.
That was both of their honest feelings.
Even taking down one dinorex was something akin to a miracle. To have another one come out, and right after the other one, too… On top of that, it was even bigger than the first? The two of them could only think it was some kind of harassment.
However, as if it didn't care about what the two of them were thinking, the dinorex took a step—
And immediately afterwards was crushed by a falling black angel.
"…Wha-?"
Black feathers scattered and fell slowly. Her golden hair swayed, and she stood on top of the dinorex as if that was the natural state of their pecking order.
The dinosaur was motionless. With just that one hit, she crushed its head, completely ignoring the size difference, killing it instantly.
The black angel raised her face as if she wasn't fazed at all by what just happened and seemed to notice Juvia and the red haired girl for the first time.
After that, she looked over towards the headless dinosaur on its side near Juvia and the red haired girl, and her face scrunched up.
"…So it ran all the way here."
"J-Just how many times do I have to be surprised today, elf girl?"
"Don't worry, I'm surprised, too."
She defeated a dinorex, which took them so much effort to defeat, with one hit. Juvia couldn't even muster a laugh.
After looking closer, Juvia saw that it was the same flugel girl from the bar. From the fact that she just naturally killed that dinorex earlier, it seemed that the job she took on back then was to kill these dinosaurs.
When she locked eyes with Juvia, she apologized to them.
"Ahh… Sorry. That dinorex there was one I was hired to kill, but it ran away in the middle of the fight… It seems like I've caused you some trouble. I apologize greatly."
"A-Ahh, don't worry about it… Wait, you had to kill two dinorexes? I can't believe you took that job."
"No, I didn't know they were dinorexes, either. The form just said that there was something ruining the ecosystem of this forest, so I was to investigate the cause and, if possible, kill it. I didn't expect the cause to be a dinorex couple, but well, I figured it would work out, so I attacked them.… I never would have expected dinorexes, who are famous for being fearless, to run away from battle. Forgive me."
What the hell? The dinorex got scared and ran? Just how strong is she? thought both Juvia and the red haired girl, in awe of the black angel in front of them.
They'd heard that animals were sensitive to the strength of others, but they'd never heard of a dinorex running from an opponent.
Sure, they'd probably run in the face of a dragon, but to run from one of the human races…
Even if there was someone like that, it'd have to be someone on par with the famous Rose Princess Rozelia Ruby, who was said to be the world's strongest. At the very least, they'd have no business being an adventurer.
"Y-You… What's your level?"
"416."
Juvia reflexively did a spit take. So did the red haired girl.
It wasn't important, but Juvia was level 42. The red haired girl was also probably around there.
"416?! What the hell is with that level?! Why are you even an adventurer?!"
"N-no way… Even the elder of the forest was only 160…"
"Like, even getting past level 100 is rare! It's said that there may be around ten people like that in the world!"
Being in shock after hearing about her level was just natural.
For the standards of this world, a trained soldier would be about level 50 or lower, and those promoted to captain would be skilled if they were over level 60. Being in triple digits already made one a hero, and it could be said that those people surpassed human limits.
No, they, in fact, did surpass human limits. In the triple digits, a person could not only withstand a tail sweep from a dinosaur, they'd actually be able to catch the tail and turn it into a throw. Let alone being over level 300, at that point, the person would surpass any monsters or even the grimmfolk.
"To me, I'm still immature. I'm not nearly at my goal… No, my starting line. At the very least, I'll need to be level 1000."
"At the very least?! You'd be at the very top! Even the strongest being in the world, Rozelia Ruby, is level 600, and you're aiming higher?!"
"Of course. In the first place, this world's standards are strange. It's like the world is telling you to be afraid of monsters and grimmfolk and just keep running. As if it won't allow you to do anything else. Well, I'm not satisfied with allowing that unreasonableness to keep going forever."
Her statement was a roundabout way of criticizing the Goddess.
The Goddess controlled every system in the world, such as the strength of beings living in it. The black angel deemed that strange and declared that she did not like this world that had set humanity as weaklings.
However, mysteriously, it seemed like she'd be able to fulfill all her goals.
"By the way, it seems you two are pretty strong yourselves. I never would have thought a dinorex would be killed by some other adventurers."
"…Well thanks. It just sounds like gloating coming from you, though."
"I'm complimenting you for real, though." The black angel pouted, unsatisfied, before starting to butcher the dinorex's skin and bones with a knife.
The materials yielded by a dinosaur were valuable. The red haired girl also quickly went over to the dinorex she and Juvia defeated and started to take it apart as well. Only Juvia sat and watched over them, green in the face.
"But you know, I wouldn't have been able to do it by myself. It's all thanks to that elf girl over there."
"Hm… the trees were all well cut, I see. It must have been amazing magic."
"Yeah. Oh, that's right. Why don't we team up from now on? I think we'll make good partners."
The red haired girl invited Juvia to form an adventuring party. Of course, there was nothing Juvia would like more. Juvia was a back-lining mage, so she wasn't suited for adventuring solo. On that point, she had no complaints about partying. The red haired girl filled all the checkboxes as a front-liner.
"How 'bout you, black-winged girl? There's probably a lot that's harder for you by yourself."
"Hm, not a bad idea. Not bad… but, if you're going to join me, I will have you raise your levels to an appropriate stage. You'll need to at least be able to defeat a dinosaur by yourself."
"No worries. I'll train very hard to meet your expectations."
The red haired girl stopped taking apart her prey, and violently wiped her bloodied hands on her skirt. After that, she washed them with some water she brought along and walked up between Juvia and the black-winged girl.
"Well then, let's shake hands now that we've formed a party. I'm Erza Belserion. One day I'm going to be the world's strongest warrior."
The red haired girl—Erza—introduced herself, giving a toothsome smile while announcing her grand ambition. Going along with that, the girl also stood, and after cleaning her own hands, she grabbed hers.
"I'm Naru. Lunaru Fenris."
Lastly, Juvia rushed to wipe her hands on her skirt. In the first place, she never touched the dinosaurs directly, so her hands were still clean, though.
Then, she took Lucifen's hand and introduced herself.
"I'm Juvia Rayne. Pleased to meet you."
That day, in a small forest, a single adventuring party was formed. They would later continue on to shake the world, breaking thoughts long held as common sense one after the other, but that's a story for the future.
Though they would one day part, for the present they were simple youngsters chasing dreams.