Jake pushed himself, and the other heroes, through one battle after another. Each battle chipped away at his heart as he became more and more ruthless.

Of all the various demon races, those without any intelligence were the lowest of the lowest in social position. They were ordered around and treated like slaves by those above them. The heroes constantly fought these minions at first, before going after stronger, higher ranked demons.

These battles were a forge for the heroes, strengthening them and reinforcing their resolve. Not all blades survived the forging process though, and five heroes perished along the way, bringing their numbers down to 17 heroes, with one more who went rogue at the start of their field training.

"Wretched, filthy humans. You may have destroyed this fort, but we will destroy your entire kingdom and sacrifice you to the honor of the high gods!"

A woman almost human in appearance, but with light brown skin and silver tattoos on it, along with two large, curved crimson horns on her forehead, cursed at the heroes. Everything around was broken and shattered, several fires still burning in the halls of the captured fort.

She was a Second Step demon noble, a <Lv. 23> Dark Knightess. For all her skills and strength, she was defeated by the heroes who hadn't even reached Second Step yet.

Her sword lay broken to the side as Jake grabbed her by the hair and picked her up with one hand.

"Do it, human. Kill me."

"Brian?" Jake called for the hero who was currently a <Lv. 14> Dream Mage.

The hero who used to have bleached blond hair combed to the side, now had weathered features and a head of hair half blond, half brown waved a staff at the demoness and shot out a multi-coloured ray of light into her head.

He closed his eyes and entered a pseudo trance before shaking his head and stating, "Her mind is sealed, I can't get anything out of it."

Jake didn't hesitate and swung his sword across her neck, beheading the demon noble in one swift attack.

⠀

[

Yx'ildrid (Abyss Tamer <Lv. 27>) killed!

+ 1,457 exp

]

⠀

The demon's body fell to the floor while her head was still in Jake's hand, her severed neck dripping black blood and an expression of hate locked on her face.

Jake turned to the rest of the heroes and gave them a broad smile.

"The fortress, which the demons took over last year, has been retaken by us. The demons are also focusing on us more, so we need to retreat before they send stronger forces against us than we can handle."

Everyone was relieved to hear those words and let out long sighs.

They had been through so many battle that they were all between <Lv. 12> and <Lv. 17>. They had begun this mission as cubs and were now returning as tigers.

"Jake, now that everything is over, I hope that you will be easier on the others," Ms. Greenwood plucked up her courage and confronted him.

Jake looked back at her and calmly answered, "I only do this for everyone's benefit."

"People… your classmates… have died."Ms. Greenwood clenched her small fists but didn't dare raise them toward Jake. He had taken complete control over the hero party during their expedition and to be completely honest, she was afraid of him.

Many of the heroes held at least some level of feat towards him.

"They simply couldn't keep up."

Jake smiled while saying it, but there was no gentleness on his face.

~~~~~

⠀

Jessica worked hard running around mediating people's fears and building nerves and was quite respected within the hero party.

She truly was a saint who healed everyone. She held a kind yet attentive attitude towards the others and would frequently check up on their health and make sure everyone was okay. She was almost singlehandedly responsible for setting up purification wards every night too, to keep the sulphur and volcanic ash out of their camp.

Everyone was in a much better mood on the way back home, but there was still a lot of tension in the air.

Edward Parker was a mousy-haired short kid with freckles. Before transmigrating, he had been heavily into roleplay, dungeons & dragons and comic books. Among his small friends circle, he often hosted D&D games of his own design, acting as dungeon master as he knew these scenarios the best.

He speculated that somehow, this was related to why he received the Strategist class when he transmigrated into this strange and new world.

The main two skills of this class were Parallel Thought, a powerful ability that allowed him to process multiple trains of thought at the same time as if it was the most natural thing in the world, and Prediction.

Prediction was completely overpowered in that it allowed him to calculate the probable outcome of any situation he had enough information on. The first subskill of the skill was foresight as well, exchanging mana as it powered his brain to predict the very future itself.

It was actually very similar to rolling dice in a game of dungeons and dragons while he was also the game master, in which he would be able to know what are the possible outcomes, and what are the chances of achieving that outcome. As it levelled up, it even became more precise.

He held confidence because of this ability and would calculate all his moves carefully before making them. It kept him safe in battle, and helped him become friends with more of the other heroes.

Using this ability, he formed his own small clique within the group and secretly controlled their actions with his own.

His Prediction skill constantly warned him about Jake and that warning had only become more powerful as of late, so he always kept a distance. Now that the danger was over though, he secretly wanted more control within the group.

He didn't wish to go against Jake, but he held complete authority within the heroes, so he had to bring criticism onto him in order to sway the others' opinions to favor himself more.

Their former teacher, Ms. Greenwood became the crux of this plan, and he made small movements to make her criticize him, along with the other heroes. They didn't even need to publicly speak up, so long as their emotions were swayed, it was enough.

Jake wasn't fooled though, and during one incident where he had taken a slight risk of the dice and had indirectly influenced Jessica to criticise him during dinner, the Hero among heroes had calmly walked over to him.

"J-Jake-" Edward had begun as his Prediction skill began sounding out warning alarms, but was cut off abruptly as he was picked up one handed by the collar.

"Ed, Edward, surely you don't think I'm that stupid, do you?" Jake had a smile on his face and unperturbed by all the gazes locked on him, but Edward could see the madness swimming in his eyes.

"I… I don't know what you mean…"

"We all know what your skills are, and I understand they are a part of you now. But, I won't have you sowing dissention among us out of your own greed. Do you understand?"

"Y-yes."

"Hmm? No, I don't think you do."Edward had Prediction operating at full strength and was even using the subskill foresight, but what he saw caused his face to rapidly turn pale in fear.

Jake's hand was coated in holy enchant before stabbed his fingers directly into Edward's chest, tearing muscles and tendons alike before grasping firmly onto one of his ribs.

"JAKE!" Jessica called out in shock while everyone else looked in fear on his bloody actions.

The heroes had all killed on the battlefield over the past month and become hardened against violence and death, but seeing one of their own being treated in such a way was incredibly difficult to not feel pain for.

Ms. Greenwood was outraged and stormed forward to save Edward, but a single glare from Jake had been enough to make her cower and bite her lip, afraid to speak up.

Jake glanced at them before raising his voice to ensure everyone could hear.

"I need you to understand, Ed, that we are a coherent group. By conspiring in such a way, you are not just harming me, but you are harming us all."

Jessica had reached him and tried to pull his hand away, but Jake's strength was far above the other heroes.

"Enough, stop this!"

He paid no attention to her at first and a cracking sound could be heard from Jake's chest as his rib started to fracture.

"Do you understand me, Ed?"

Edward was so afraid he could no longer talk. He did however manage to barely nod his head, at which Jake's smile broadened and he extracted his blood coated fingers and put him down while wiping the blood off on his shirt. None of the other heroes dared meet his gaze as he returned to his usual position in the group.

"I'm so sorry," Jessica said while tending to the gravely injured hero, holy light particles drifting off her arms and into his chest. "He didn't use to be like this. With all the pressure and expectations the princess has put on him, and all the battles we have been forced into… He's doing his best."

Edward tried to smile, but he couldn't stop his body from shaking all over.

Jake glanced over, fully capable of hearing what they were saying with his razor sharp senses but didn't say anything. He just smiled briefly before going back to eating.

Ms. Greenwood knelt down beside Jessica to help tend to Edward as she also quietly shared her thoughts.

"I… understand, but we have all been thrown into this situation."

Jessica looked back at her with a sad gaze.

"You don't understand. Jake is expected to be at the very front when danger approaches. He is expected to be the strongest, to win no matter what. The princess is not a good person, and her claws have already dug deep inside of him and refuse to let him go."

"The princess?"

Edward had tried to stay even further away from the princess in the past due to his skills warning him about her, but he never understood why. He finally manage to calm his body somewhat and asked in the quietest voice he had ever managed.

"What about her? I know she was to marry one of the heroes, but isn't that just political ploys?"

Jessica pursed her lips in displeasure and glanced at Jake, who was busy talking to some of the other heroes, before responding in a hushed voice.

"No, that is just an excuse. She isn't going to marry one of the heroes, she is going to marry The Hero. She has already been having… private visits with him…"

"They have already-"

"No, they haven't done that yet."

Ms. Greenwood frowned and asked, "So what is it, then? Is she infatuated with Jake?"

"…Sort of."

As if detecting some hidden meaning, the former teacher pressed, "What do you mean by that?"

"What I mean is that the princess isn't infatuated with Jake. She is infatuated with the hero."