CHAPTER 368: WHAT IT TAKES TO LEAD A TEAM

"It’s already dark." Yura commented, glancing at the evening sky before she looked at their instructor. "Until what time are we required to do this?"

Greinzer stopped observing the tough crocodile that Coco had punched down a minute ago, his gaze shifting from the monster to the woman who was already looking at him, her eyebrows furrowed.

"It depends on the six of you." He answered, standing up from his crouching position.

Coco perked up at that, her eyes darting to the five aspiring hunters who looked back at her, their gazes silently asking her what would be her decision.

"Why are you looking at me like that..?" Coco asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You’re the leader." Myra stated, blatantly pointing out the obvious as she placed a hand on her hip. "Haven’t you noticed that yet?"

"Why am I the leader? You’re a leader, too." Coco said, gesturing at Myra. "You can decide for all of us, you know? I’m sure your team members wouldn’t like me to decide for them—"

"We’re actually fine with it." Zuyo spoke up, cutting Coco off with a shrug.

Coco blinked, not expecting such a thing.

"Yeah, you led us through everything today and made the work easier than we expected." Myra agreed with her teammate, nodding her head.

"You didn’t make us feel lesser than you." Julian stated, his voice slightly loud to let Coco hear him.

"Now, why would I make you guys feel lesser than me?" Coco asked, eyebrows pinching together in worry. "We’re all trying to pass the exam, right? We’re here to help out each other, not drag the others down."

"That’s exactly why they’re letting you decide for them, Coco." Yura said, placing her hand on Coco’s back, catching Coco’s attention.

"The woman’s right, lead’." Lukas agreed and slung his arm over Coco’s shoulders. "You’re the kind of leader that everyone would want and need. You were careful and awfully considerate of everyone."

Coco simply nodded her head, slowly and blinking, not entirely sure if what they were saying was true.

She only did what needed to be done after all.

Throughout the whole day, she helped Lukas and Yura take down monsters by just giving directions and guiding them through the process of beating their assigned monsters down.

Then, she assisted the other team with their own monsters by doing the same thing, telling them what they can do to weaken the monster, on how to kill them, and helping them take it down if they needed a helping hand.

She didn’t put too much strength on her hits and let the others give the finishing blow to make it count as team work.

However, if she was given the chance to do so, she would just compose herself and take the monsters down in two or three swift hits to make things easier for everyone.

Throughout the day, since they have not had any break— Coco has to share her food with everyone.

Heiren’s cooking and Zaque’s sandwiches were gone after lunch, having been devoured by Zuyo, Lukas, and surprisingly, Greinzer in a blink of an eye.

For snacks, she brought out the apples and bananas she stored in her inventory last night.

The others didn’t question her on how everything seemed to fit on the bag she was carrying because they got to eat something filling and delicious— though Greinzer’s suspicious gaze shifted towards her from time to time, she didn’t let him make her feel too nervous to feed others.

With their belly full and body buzzing with energy, the spawn stone seems to have its fill as well due to the continuous spawn it made for the past two hours.

Every monster each group had taken down, Greinzer would click the counter device.

If she was right on the number— Myra’s team would be around ten to thirteen monsters and her team would be fifteen in number.

Now, the night rolled in without much notice which left the group thinking if they should stay the night in the forest and be diligent on passing the third stage with the best of their abilities or just call it a night.

Though, they would much prefer it if Coco would decide for themselves.

"I was just helping." Coco said, shaking her head slightly as she shook off Lukas’ arm and Yura’s hand from her body. "It’s what a teammate should do towards their teammates, right?"

Unfortunately, Coco seems to be a little thickheaded to understand what they wanted— and quite stubborn, too.

"You helped and you led us." Myra stated bluntly, having enough of Coco’s stubbornness and crossing her arms in front of her. "You want to call it a night and end this exam right now or you want to keep going until tomorrow morning?"

Coco bit the inside of her cheek as everyone’s attention slowly shifted towards her form.

"What.. What does everyone want to do?" Coco returned the question, a troubled expression crossing her face as she looked at the aspiring hunters’ faces.

"I’m fine with what you want to do." Yura voiced her opinion, shrugging dismissively.

"Same here." Lukas called, raising a hand.

"Likewise." Julian nodded his head, once, and shuffled in his feet to let everyone know that it was him who spoke.

"I second everyone’s decision!" Zuyo said with a grin.

Coco’s eyes darted towards Greinzer, her gaze asking him for help— for anything, just to get her out of this situation.

"You have what it takes to lead." Greinzer spoke, shrugging his shoulders and facing away from the group, his hand slipping inside of his coat. "Make your decision while I call the guild to pick these monsters up."

"What?" Coco blurted out, her lips parting.

She felt like her whole body went rigid and got showered by cold water when she felt the stares of the others prickling her skin.

"I’m not a good leader!" Coco called out to the hunter who was already walking away from them.

"Wrong." Julian mumbled, disagreeing.