The shadow of a god

Chapter 9: No other choice

"Ms. Tempest, I've heard many stories about you," the leader of the raid talked to Rimuru.
"I'm flattered." She put on a showbiz smile.
"Of course you don't need to be a porter. All you have to do is witness how we fight these monsters, and to protect our fill-in porter here."
Looks like they're trying to get on Rimuru's good side, and get a hunter to help them.
She fought with Cha Hae-in, their lieutenant, and even beat her, so it's a given they'll try their best to be in her graces.
She must be like some sort of legend in the hunters guild.
Crazy.

The woman beside me noticed the beads of sweat dropping on my forehead.
"There's no need to be nervous. Ki-hoon oppa.. no. The leader and everyone else here are outstanding hunters."
She walked ahead of me and went with the rest of the team, signaling me to come.

Is she an A-rank healer?
Ms. Ju-hee was a B-rank healer.
If it wasn't for the trauma then she would've fit in an attack force just like this.
What a shame.
I wonder how she's doing?
I should visit her some time..

I looked at all the members of the team.
The 6 B-rank hunters in this team are pretty close to A-rank level.
The hunters guild has two teams with this kind of strength..

The woman from earlier opened her mouth,
"our attack force will take care of all the combat, so as long as you stay in formation, you'll be safe from any monster attacks."
I nodded.
"There's a saying that goes like this:
If the mage gets attacked, the tankers are responsible.
If the healer gets attacked, the attack force is responsible.
And if the porter gets attacked, then the guild is responsible.

That's how you won't end up in a situation as a monster's target.
So long as the attack force doesn't fail," she reassured me.

After she had a chat with me they heard a monster and immediately prepared for combat.
Preparing for combat without any instructions..
This is the strength of an A-rank attack force.

"W-What?! Those are.. dungeon jackals?!" the leader of the raid shouted.
The jackal pounced on them and they immediately began to lay out their attacks effortlessly.
They were used to this type of raid.

"What's this?"
"Why are there dungeon jackals here?" The members started questioning their appearance.

"Is it rare for dungeon jackals to appear in an A-rank dungeon?" I asked the woman.
"No. Not really. Though.. dungeon jackals are C-rank monsters. Since they're too weak and placed low in the food chain, they're usually hunted down. Their pack numbers dwindle fast because they get eaten by stronger monsters.
Dungeon jackals shouldn't be able to hunt any monsters here even if they fought in a group. Since they can't defeat their prey, weak monsters can't survive."

I noticed something on the neck of a dungeon Jackal's corpse.

A trace of a leash?
"These are no ordinary jackals. Someone has been raising these things," I provided my insight to them.
"That must mean someone kept them alive for a purpose. To use them as hunting dogs," Rimuru added.

What a pain.
A monster smart enough to free and send these hunting dogs to us. Regardless of their species, intellectual monsters are hard to deal with.

I sensed footsteps that shook the ground.
The real ones are coming!

"Oh my god..!" The leader's face was filled with fear.
"High orcs?!"
"Why high orcs?!" The whole team was in disarray.

A high orc threw its weapon at the leader of the team.
Luckily he was able to block it with its shield.
But.. the power of the high orc was able to almost crack the shield in half.

Rimuru and I watched as the scene unfolded.
We stood beside each other.

"If things get too bad.. then we should probably step in," she whispered.
I nodded.

The team was helpless at the fury of 20 high orcs.
They'll.. die.

The woman from earlier.. right. She was a healer.
Healers are kind..
At the expense of her life, she tried to heal another team member.

I dropped all of the baggage I was carrying and went at the orc who tried to slash at the healer.
Using stealth I concealed my presence and started attacking the orcs' weak points.
Thanks to me, their fight became a lot easier.

I'll only weaken them as much as possible without getting noticed.

I fell back.

Ew. I got blood on me.