The quickbeast was a relatively rare monster found in this area. It was a small critter with a disgusting appearance characterized not by its strength, but by its speed. The power of its attacks were also enhanced by the momentum of its speed.

It was said that if one was below level 15, had average equipment, and had the misfortune of getting targeted by this creature, they’d probably lose their heads from a single headbutt.

The person they saved was called Lipin, level 22 at age 25, from team #1, also known as the Loop Mercenary Team. The mercenary was based at the other end of the region, a few thousand kilometers away. It wasn’t too far, but not close either.

Lipin was the type of guy who had been spoiled by his parents and had been willful ever since. He sneaked into his father’s mercenary team for experience. He hadn’t done anything heinous, but he certainly caused a lot of blood pressure to spike.

When he insisted on doing a mission because someone questioned his manhood, the people who accompanied him were chosen by draw lots, and those who were chosen looked like they were about to die.

This was actually Lipin’s first mission. Having never experienced a lot of obstacles in life, he had grown quite arrogant. He was also protected well by the team, but after a while, there were inevitable cracks in the defenses, allowing for some accidents to happen.

If the person themselves didn’t have some self-defence capabilities, they wouldn’t have been able to escape some things. Anyway, this was the closest brush with death he had experienced so far.

He looked at the beautiful woman with shining eyes filled with awe!

"T-Thank you!"

"Just do your job," she said before turning away to deal with other mobs. She obviously did not want to talk with him at all.

Lipin realized that the impression he gave was horrible and he wanted to slap himself and his damned mouth!

Bad mouth! Stinky mouth!

After dealing with a small mob, the area was quiet again. However, Althea’s eyes were narrow. "It’s not over yet," she said. The mercenaries lifted their weapons as they continued to traverse the dangerous lands.

However, even after a while, no abnormality happened. It was just the normal mob that they usually deal with at this level.

If there was anything of note, the mobs were always consistent, and their numbers were never less than theirs. After fighting each mob, they would get more and more injured, and some could barely even fight anymore after a few hours.

Her suspicious continued to simmer, but there was not much she could do.

Soon, dusk arrived, and they found a place to camp. It was an area with some rock formations that could serve as their cover. People dragged some logs or rocks to sit on, while others created their own fires. Each team had their own, while the bride and her entourage shared with a team.

The bride herself did not go out of the carriage. Her maid would just bring her food and take out the things that needed to be thrown out.

Everyone was prepared to sleep on the open air, like they usually did, but then they stared in a direction.

It was Althea and Garan setting up a small tent. It was waterproof and highly insulated. It was also very quick to set up and dismantle, just pushing a few supports here and there.

They watched as the couple took out cushions and pillows and then a contraption (most assumed it was a magic tool) that would push out fire at the turning of a knob.

They even took out some pieces of meat from the latest kills, took out some bottles of spices, and started cooking leisurely at the side.

"..."

They were naturally curious about the two mercenaries. They had looked down on them before due to their numbers, but weren’t they the most comfortable ones right now?

Some tried to cause trouble and claimed they hadn’t done anything, which was why they were so leisurely. Unfortunately for them, Garan and Althea had saved quite a few lives over the past half-day, so not only were they not supported, they even spoke up for them before the troublemakers could cause anything.

And the aroma of that food was just...gulp

After things were settled and the guards were assigned (each team would send one every shift), some brave people scooted over to chat.

Garan was the guard representative for their team of two, leaving Althea with her soup next to the fire. It was better because the man was very protective of his wife, so they were not easy to approach.

By virtue of self-preservation, however, only girls went to approach. When Lipin tried to walk over earlier, he felt extremely cold and decided against it, and the others took it as a warning.

Most hadn’t seen the couple use their elementalist skills, but some were aware of it, especially those who had arrived earlier and got some news from the entourage.

They were curious about their skills but, at the same time, they did not want to be the reason why they found out about it.

"These items are so good! Where did you buy them? Where are they from?" one of the girls sent a barrage of questions from the get-go, as if afraid this was her only chance to speak. Her teammates wiped their faces with their palms, asking if this girl knew what tact was.

Fortunately for them, Althea was mild-mannered and only smiled, honestly answering her questions. However, her voice died down midway.

Althea had a strong affinity with wood and earth, so she had a sharper instinct when it came to forests.

She immediately stood up, and the others also took out their weapons. On cue, the guards on the perimeter also closed in with the group, feeling the abnormalities in the dark forest.

Her eyes widened as she felt the vibrations on the ground. This was the sound of beasts coming!

Althea had not put down her guard even while they were eating. She had always felt something was wrong.

It was like the mobs earlier were sent to tire them out.

As such, how could the ’mastermind’ allow them to actually rest for long?

However, there were no humans and there was no sign of beast-attracting potions at all. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

So what happened here?

It was more like it waited until nighttime and for most of them to loosen their guard to a degree before attacking. Wasn’t that chance right now?

Soon, the mobs arrived, coming in even stronger than before. They were still tired from the previous battle and their vision was a lot less clear at night, pushing them at a disadvantage.

ROAAARRRR!

A resounding roar came from the side and it was as if the monsters’ positioning became a bit sharper, making sure the humans didn’t get to group together properly.

Althea had to use her vines to control more monsters from coming, and it was the same with Garan, with him creating walls that froze the monsters that came nearby.

These were done to the monsters at the back of the mob to control the masses incoming. It was also so that the mercenary teams they were fighting with would have some use. Why waste energy on monsters other people could handle?

That said, contrary to what she thought, this confirmed that this attack was not an act of a bandit group or another unscrupulous group.

Her pupils constricted as an idea dawned on her.

"It’s an intelligent beast!!"