"AHHH!"
Kas let out a scream.
Nana took the chance to tap her toe against the ground and leap up quickly.
Then she grabbed Nini out of Kas's arms, jumped far away from where Kas was, protected Nini behind her, and shouted, "Who's there?"
But Ethan noticed that the shoes under Nana's feet flashed several times the moment she jumped.
Each flash matched the moments when her toes stepped through the air.
'Do those shoes...'
'Have some kind of midair ability?'
"Me? Just a passing player."
Ethan appeared before the group and smiled as he looked around at everyone.
Nana looked at Ethan cautiously, but still cupped her fists and thanked him, "Thank you for helping us, hero."
"Don't misunderstand. I'm no hero, and I never planned on helping people for fun," Ethan lowered the Godslayer Sword to his side and continued, "I just can't stand people who betray their teammates, so I casually taught him a lesson."
"No matter what, thank you for helping us," Nana cupped her fists again to show thanks.
But Ethan waved his hand and said, "Forget useless thanks. If you really want to thank me, then give me something practical instead."
"Something practical?", Nana's expression changed, "What do you want?"
"I saw you opening quite a few treasure chests along the way. You should have gotten a lot of good stuff, right?", Ethan tilted his head and looked at Nana, "I won't ask for much. However much you think your healer teammate's life is worth, just convert that into materials for me."
"Hahaha!"
Kas, whose arm had been cut off, suddenly laughed.
Then he took out a scroll from his backpack and tore it open with his teeth. Countless white lights flew toward his wound, and soon the bleeding stopped.
And judging from the relaxed expression on Kas's face, the healing scroll seemed to have a pain-relieving effect as well.
After treating the wound, he looked at Ethan and said, "So brother, you're after money."
"I never like doing things for free," Ethan glanced at Kas and said, "Since I already worked, naturally I should get paid. Any problem with that?"
"Of course not! In fact, I completely agree with your way of doing things!", Kas continued, "Most of the things we got from opening treasure chests are with me. So as long as you save me and get me out of here, I can give most of it to you as payment. How about it?"
Hearing this, Ethan finally noticed that Kas was carrying a mid-level backpack.
The rest of the team only had beginner backpacks.
'Looks like...'
'This guy is basically the team's storage unit.'
That made things much easier.
"Draw Sword Style!"
Slash!
Ethan simply raised his hand and brought the blade down.
Kas's head flew into the air with a look of disbelief on his face. He seemed unable to understand why the person in front of him suddenly attacked.
"Sorry, I don't do business with trash."
After killing Kas, Ethan casually stored his backpack into his tail ring.
He could slowly check what was inside after going back. Studying someone else's belongings right in front of them didn't seem very polite.
Pfft!
Pfft! Pfft!
Right then, countless Ground Needle Grass spikes were attracted again by the blood spraying from Kas's neck and started bursting out of the ground wildly.
"Harden Up!"
Ethan casually swung the Godslayer Sword in his hand.
However, the Harden Up magic attack didn't come out. Left with no choice, he immediately switched to—
"Chaotic Sword Style!"
Slash! Slash! Slash!
Countless Ground Needle Grass spikes were chopped apart and sent flying everywhere.
Ethan noticed that the cut Ground Needle Grass still showed signs of growing back out, so he simply took out the instant-cast wand and pointed it at the ground.
"Harden Up!"
The next second, the entire muddy ground turned into solid concrete, and the Ground Needle Grass naturally could no longer break through.
"That solved it?"
Everyone looked at Ethan, then at the Ground Needle Grass frozen halfway in the ground, their faces full of shock.
Just now, they had nearly been wiped out trying to deal with the Ground Needle Grass.
But what about him?
He casually waved the branch in his hand? A wand?
And immediately dealt with all the Ground Needle Grass?
"This is way too ridiculous!"
"He seems to be a mage, right?"
"But he just killed Kas. Will he kill us too later?"
The people standing nearby all whispered in amazement.
Nana narrowed her eyes and said, "Probably not, but just in case. If you notice anything strange about him later, immediately take Nini and run. I'll hold him off."
"No!", Nini grabbed Nana's clothes and cried, "Sister Nana, you have to leave with me too!"
"Nini! This isn't the time to act spoiled."
———
Meanwhile, after dealing with the Ground Needle Grass, Ethan switched back to the Godslayer Sword.
"Sigh! A wand really is easier to use for casting magic."
"Even though the Godslayer Sword can also cast magic, it's much worse when dealing with spells that need long chants."
"If only these two weapons could combine into one."
Ethan imagined himself pulling out the Godslayer Sword, making everyone think he was just an ordinary swordsman, then suddenly firing a giant fireball from the Godslayer Sword.
'Damn!'
'That would be even more exciting than a sneak attack.'
"Cool!"
As Ethan thought about it, he accidentally made a very chuuni sword-swinging pose.
"What are you trying to do?"
Nana was badly startled by Ethan's sudden movement.
She quickly protected Nini behind her like a hen protecting chicks while backing away repeatedly.
Ethan's two attacks earlier had already made her one hundred percent certain, there was absolutely no way she could beat the man in front of her.
If this man wanted to kill them, she definitely would not have any ability to fight back.
A swordsman who could use magic, wasn't this cheat way too absurd.
How were they supposed to fight that?!l
"Cough! Cough!"
Only then did Ethan remember there were other people here.
Recently he had been fighting monsters alone all the time, and he had gotten a little carried away. Especially whenever he thought of some special move, he would unconsciously act it out.
Now that people were suddenly nearby, it became awkward.
He coughed twice to hide the embarrassment before looking at Nana and saying, "You don't need to be so nervous. I'm not interested in killing you."
"And I took your stuff and saved your lives, so we're even now."
"Farewell!"
After speaking, Ethan headed straight in another direction, preparing to leave.