The wilderness north of the town was once chaotic, filled with all sorts of monsters, but the most powerful among them was certainly the Cannibal Witch who corrupted vast areas of forest.

Back then, the fungal plague infected large areas of wildlife in the wilderness, but even under such circumstances, the diverse species of the wilderness couldn't be completely eradicated.

Those giant spiders, half-human in height, continued to roam the dense forests of the wilderness, and now, without the witch's constraint, they spread even more.

Conflicts arising from the development of the wilderness and ordinary people have been increasing, with some even being abducted by these giant spiders, leaving only leftover remains found the next day.

Moreover, the troublesome thing is that these creatures have the habit of clustering together, at least two, sometimes three or four, rarely appearing alone, and the cooperation between the two types of Giant Spiders is quite disgusting.

It's fair to say that, aside from the heretics, these creatures are the second greatest scourge of the wilderness.

Now, a squad of the Personal Guard is battling these creatures in the wilderness.

"Pests!" Barin, clad in specially made Heavy Armor, swung the long-handled Great Axe, instantly splitting a Giant Spider in two.

On the other side, with a gunshot, a venomous Giant Spider covered in green bristle behind exploded its head.

The fingernail drew a line on the wooden guard; this gesture was Barrett's habit.

Several teammates then unleashed their abilities to kill the remaining Giant Spiders.

The Honor Guard, trained and hardened in the wilderness, were no strangers to the Giant Spiders; the deeper into the wilderness they went, the higher the encounter rate.

Although Giant Spiders are disgusting, they are fragile skinned; killing them swiftly was the way.

When the last Giant Spider was slain, the ground was covered in a chaotic mess of filth.

"Damn it! These damned things are getting more numerous!" an Honor Guard raised his hand to crush the spider silk that stuck to him.

He was unlucky enough to be shot full of it earlier; fortunately, as time progressed, it hardened and quickly lost its stickiness, avoiding further trouble.

"No time for rest; we must hurry to Target Three." Barrett finished reloading, his gaze turned to the smoke column rising and slowly dispersing in the sky.

Enough time had passed since they started that they were among the first to depart, and the mission to blow the passage didn't encounter issues; if it weren't for the constant harassment by Giant Spiders, they would have long reached their position.

Target Three was the furthest; however, upon arriving, they found they weren't the fastest, and battles had already erupted.

Those besieged by heretics were...

Geralt swung his steel sword, slicing open the head of a heretic, but in the next second, he reversed to parry and block the claw of another approaching heretic, kicking away and immediately turning, spinning his longsword to pierce through the back of a heretic.

The set of actions was executed so smoothly that before anyone could react, several heretics had fallen.

On the other side, Tadiff was equally fierce; although he didn't have the innumerable years of honed Combat Skills like the Witcher Master, he donned Scale Armor and an Iron Helmet.

Even if those heretics attacked, as long as the vital spots were avoided, it didn't matter; however, when Tadiff hit them back, the heretics couldn't withstand it.

The key was that the axe he wielded wasn't his previous one but one of Lance's Extraordinary Equipment—the [Banshee Hatchet].

The Extraordinary Power bestowed by it made Tadiff even more formidable, and even without [Corpse Decomposition Spore], wounds inflicted on heretics by this hatchet would fester and pus, gradually eroding life, rendering their prideful self-healing ability useless.

Sometimes, a mysterious white specter would appear, shrieking, leaving even frenzied heretics stunned in place.

But he wouldn't spare them; in his eyes, each heretic was a bounty.

The two braced themselves upfront, allowing Alhazred to unleash a secret technique.

The Skull Candleholder burned bright with flames, facing off against the Priest hidden amongst the heretics.

The flickering candlelight was like mysterious power in confrontation, creating unseen turbulence in a hidden realm.

Single-handedly, he held off the chaotic Sorcery of several Heretic Priests; it's worth noting that he didn't have Lance assisting to suppress the unknown gaze.

Just by adjusting his mindset, the power unleashed was enough to fend off three or five Heretic Priests.

No wonder Lance considered Alhazred's strength to be in the top three of Hamlet; releasing the constraints would make him more formidable.

However, Hamlet's actions startled the heretics long ago; they were certainly not willing to be banished like this, and after many exits were bombed shut, the massive organization underground could only emerge from a few allowed passages.

They were slipping into the depths through Number Two, but needed an exit, whereas Number Three was the only one left not bombed shut, and near the last exit of the Old City Ruins, if those heretics below wanted to retreat, they had to come out here; otherwise, they would be trapped.

If Target Number Two could be abandoned by the heretics, then Number Three absolutely couldn't be lost.

That's why heretics gathered from around and from underground kept surging up; regardless of Geralt and his companions' efforts, it was hard to resist the insane heretics.

But Lance considered this scenario, so he positioned the strongest hero here and arranged for reinforcements from the Honor Guard.