Chapter 841

Chapter 841

“How did it go, Ha Leeha? Did the charge rate increase?”

Blaugrunn hurriedly ran to Leeha’s side and asked. Blaugrunn couldn’t perfectly read Leeha’s expression.

“Heh, hehehe... hehe....”

“Oh, did it increase? Or―”

“Blaugrunn-ssi...?”

“Yes?”

“It... did increase but....”

The charge rate of the Black Bass could only be obtained from the first creature of the species hunted for the first time.

This meant that even if they captured and killed 1,000 more nameless monsters, a mix of kangaroo and monkey, the rate would never increase again.

〈Awakened Legendary Black Bass (1st Enhancement―Lava)〉

(Not for Trade)

Additional Effect―3: Awake when the charge rate is above 30%

Sleep when the charge rate is below 10%

Current Charge Rate: 0.27%

With great difficulty, the charge obtained from one creature was just 0.27%.

If future monsters granted a similar charge value?

It would mean Leeha needed to find at least 112 completely new monsters in the Eastern New Continent, ones he had never encountered before, to just reach the minimum awakening condition of 30%.

And this, before the charge rate dropped again.

“Damn—”

You damned Middle Earth──!_

In the situation where he couldn’t even raise his voice for fear someone around might hear, Leeha expressed the anger arising from the depths of his soul in silence.

Blaugrunn watched as Leeha struggled, gradually stepping back.

While Leeha suffered with the charge rate, there were also other users cursing “damned Middle Earth.”

Not just one, but two.

* * *

“Damned Middle Earth! Kidd, I told you to check the left first!”

“That’s—”

────,

“As easy as—”

────,

“You can do it yourself then!”

Kidd ignored Luger’s shouts and dealt with the enemies on the right.

Luger, frustrated, had no choice but to deactivate his 〈Acht-Acht〉 mode.

“Kuhhh, these crazy bat bastards. If they touch you, they rip you apart from the wings to the thighs—”

Luger hastily lifted his Cobalt Blue Python and fired, but the monster dodged it with an unpredictable movement.

“Kyaaaa—!”

The giant bat, spinning as it flew, seemed to dodge all of Luger’s shots as if it could foresee them.

“Damn it, you damn—”

Ta-daaang──────!

The giant bat, which was aiming for his neck, suddenly turned ash-gray and started to transform.

As Luger, overpowered by the force, wrestled with it on the ground, the bat’s figure had already vanished.

“Such complaints can wait till later, Luger.”

“... Major. Damn it, what’s with these vampires!”

Luger pushed off the vampire’s corpse that had attacked him, heeding Browless’s suggestion.

It had been about 5 days since they marched past the Corrupted World Tree Forest when they first faced this serious obstruction.

‘A vampire is still a vampire, I guess!’

There were no disruptions at the entrance of the eastern forest.

They managed to march forward, expertly avoiding even Ghybrid’s Chimera, and successfully moved past the temporary house where Elizabeth and Brown used to stay, reaching the dark forest without any problem.

Now, they had just emerged from that dark forest, but within minutes, they were ambushed “from behind.”

‘Who would have thought they were hiding in the dark forest... They deliberately waited until we passed and then attacked us—’

“Bailephus, are there any Vampires hidden inside the Forest of Darkness?”

“I don’t sense any right now. But... if they are maintaining a distance somewhere around here, it would be difficult for me to track them.”

While Fernand pointed inside the Forest of Darkness, Bailephus scanned the surrounding area. No matter how extensive mana detection could be, it had its limits.

What if someone watched this battle from a distance, from a location not caught by detection?

Especially if that someone was a Vampire?

“It means there’s a chance that Chiyou and Kaztor noticed our movements.”

“If it’s a lower-level Vampire—of course, their intelligence is among the highest of common monsters, but still low within their kind. It’s more likely that Chiyou, who’s become a second Bathory, set this up as a trap, more for reconnaissance or surveillance than predicting our movements.”

To Fernand’s disheartened statement, Browless provided a counterargument. But the conclusion was essentially the same!

What if the Vampires stationed for reconnaissance or surveillance were all dead?

Surely, questions would arise about who killed them. Especially if their leader was Chiyou, such a conclusion would be inevitable.

Naturally, they would suspect the experts of the ‘Sacred Alliance.’

“And then—phew, the problem is—ugh, listen up! I—whew, can set them—”

“Who’s there!”

“Hm!?”

At the sudden voice, Alexander, Luger, Kidd, and Browless all went into alert mode.

The only one with a calm face was Bailephus.

“Damn golden lizard, you’ve lost your touch! Who’s there? If you don’t come out now, I’ll punch a hole through your belly!”

“... It’s not magic.”

“What?”

It was natural for Luger to growl in tension.

The sound, coming from a sparsely wooded area, gradually grew closer. Meanwhile, there was a dragging sound, *swish*, *swish*.

“It sounds like the movement of a Chimera... similar to a Chimera.”

Though Browless suspected the worst with a worried expression, the others remained doubtful.

Chimeras do not speak.

And they would never offer to help.

When the silhouette emerged more clearly from the darkness, even Fernand, Luger, Kidd, and the usually unflappable rank one, Alexander, couldn’t help but widen their eyes.

“Whew! Hello, everyone?”

“... Prea?”

“The White-Eyed Spiritist!?”

It was Prea.

* * *

“First, take this, ugh, this was the squad leader commanding the pack of Vampires in the Forest of Darkness.”

The strange dragging sound turned out to be the corpse of a Vampire.

Perhaps she was trying to drag it along using an Intermediate Earth Spirit. Beside her, something made of rock was bellowing, *oooh*.

“Anyways, completely useless. Fine, you can go now!”

“OOOooOOOoo—!”

“Quiet!”

Prea kicked the rock, roughly half her height. It soon faintly disappeared.

Alexander and the rest didn’t know how to respond.

Why was she bringing the corpse of a squad leader from a Vampire pack?

“As the rumors say, you are under Chiyou’s side.”

“Oh my, absolutely not! Who would say such terrible things! If I were, would I have brought this one’s corpse?”

“It’s Chiyou’s specialty. Everyone here knows her main skill is sacrificing the small to gain the big.”

Luger and Kidd were the first to guard against her.

It was perfectly possible with Chiyou.

Giving away a bunch of Vampire underlings and a squad leader, only to gather information on everyone’s location here, their objectives, and current state would be a major success.

“If I were a Vampire, a member of the Demon King’s army, or a comrade of Bluebeard, wouldn’t our Dragon here have already figured it out?”

Prea pointed at Bailephus.

Though he was currently in human form, with his golden armor and golden aura surging from his sword, no one would mistake him for an ordinary user.