Raymond was far from exaggerating. Their first encounter with wild monsters, which happened a day later, proved to the others that he was more than capable of taking care of himself and even assisting the team.
Aiden stood to the side as the monsters came rushing at them. For the time being, Genevieve wanted him to keep a low profile in an attempt to avoid being targeted before they reached the ruins — so he couldn't loot the monsters.
Genevieve placed him with a newbie team because they would be the farthest from danger when things go down. However, that also meant they would be assigned different chores like setting up tents, hunting, patrolling, and cooking meals.
His team was assigned with patrolling the surroundings, since it was deemed more reliable than the others. Aiden witnessed how reliable they were firsthand when Catherine began blasting spells left and right.
Her wand glowed with dangerous light before it fired a spell that tore through the monsters. Despite her destructiveness, she didn't show signs of stopping until there were no more monsters in the periphery.
Elijah and Claw were both the vanguard of the team, pushing everyone back. As Elijah used quick and rapid strikes to control the flow of the battle, Claw used his strength to make them focus on him.
Silas moved like the wind, creating distractions between the monsters by mimicking their shapes and striking at different times. Their formation, if it existed, fell apart as they began fighting each other.
Raymond carried a long sword as he ran across the battlefield, delivering deadly blows to the monsters' vital spots. He used several abilities in quick succession, making the monsters look like dummy targets in front of him.
Once the last of the monsters died, the team reassembled and discussed their strategy.
"Everyone did well," Elijah said with a nod toward Raymond. "But I would like for everyone to be more involved," he glanced at Aiden.
"I held the back," Aiden said.
"You held us back," Claw sneered at him. "Don't stand around and do nothing, trash. I refuse to pull around a deadweight, no matter who you know in the Guild."
"He didn't hold us back," Catherine, the redhead mage, argued back. "Look at the corpses in that direction. He was protecting me while I fired my spells."
The rest looked behind Aiden and found a trail of monsters who died in the bushes. They seemed to be lurking behind trees or bushes, and there were no signs of struggle before they perished.
"I can see you are light on your feet," Raymond said with a whistle. "Those monsters had no idea that someone was about to kill them."
"I make use of what I have," Aiden said. "Do you have a problem with that, Lycan?" he challenged Claw, who sneered and turned away.
Aiden turned to look at the others, and Silas gave him a thumbs up while looking like a replica of Aiden. Elijah gave him a nod, and Catherine said nothing.
"We need to go back, clean the monster corpses, and send it to the alchemist," Elijah said. "It will be messy work, but it's our job."
The others groaned, but got to work. Aiden had no problem with some menial work since it allowed him to eavesdrop on the gossip of the Guild.
They took the corpses back to the tents, cleaned them, and dropped them at the alchemist's tent. Aiden stayed behind while the others returned to their tent to watch the alchemist at work.
The bald man came out at noon, yawning and scratching his belly. He reeked of booze and body odor. A beautiful woman came out of his tent a moment after him, and Aiden could tell they spent the night together.
"Should I purify these?" the bald man asked Aiden. "Get back a little."
Aiden took a step back.
The bald man raised a hand, and a violet flame burst from his palm. Aiden looked in surprise as the bald man threw the flame at the mountain of corpses.
Flames erupted from the mountain, devouring fur and bones. Aiden watched in awe as the mountain of corpses was reduced to a pile of clean, untainted, monster flesh.
"You erased it all?" Aiden asked in surprise. "What was that flame?"
"My Flame of Erasure," the bald man said with a proud smirk. "Alchemists need to have perfect control of their equation, and purification is one of our main abilities."
"Do all alchemists have this flame?" Aiden asked.
"A real alchemist has all the flames he needs," the bald man said as the woman brought him his robes. "Take this meat away, kid."
Aiden watched the man disappear with his hand wrapped around the woman's waist. He turned toward the pile of meat, crouched down, and examined it. It was pure meat, but… it was not as pure and pink as the one obtained from his looting.
"I always find you next to meat," a voice said from behind him. Aiden turned to find Genevieve. "Are these the ones you have hunted?"
"My teammates did most of the work," Aiden said as he rose. "I don't appreciate you placing me with Raymond Cross."
"I didn't know you knew each other," Genevieve said. "And he is capable enough for me to rest assured that you won't accidentally die."
"I'm not a vase," Aiden said with annoyance. "I fought against Hungerborns before and won."
"One wrong step is all it takes for you to end up a Hungerborn yourself," Genevieve said. "I just want to make sure that… you'll be available when the time comes."
"Don't worry about me," Aiden replied before he began carrying the meat. "When are we going to reach that hidden dungeon?"
"Another day of travel," she replied. "Make sure no one knows about our relationship."
"We have a relationship?" Aiden asked, his voice cheeky. Genevieve walked away without answering. He laughed and carried the meat to the center of the camp, where the chefs were cooking their meals.
After he dropped the meat on the giant table, he heard a fight breaking out. He found a giant crowd surrounding Dylan and another man.