Did she already know what I would ask her for?

Ch 165: Team 12

[Teriar Lvl 11]

"Now!"

"Got it!"

"I've been waiting for this moment for a long time!"

After Irina's words, Alessia and Miria ran towards the monster. They had discussed it beforehand and concluded that Alessia and Miria would both be the first to approach the teriars. This is because they are both agile and focused on attacking.

Their goal is to make time until the arrival of Irina and Zia.

"Gggrrr"

Understanding that it had fallen into a trap, the teriar set its hair on end and growled in their direction. Waiting in an attack position, it brought out its claws and fangs.

"Fight with everything you've got, stupid monster! I have a chance to cut something. Don't make this wait in vain!"

'- Hm, battle maniac... I never thought that her smile, which looks like nothing can taint it, actually belonged to a woman who likes fights.'

The smile on Miria's face, instead of diminishing, increased. It ceased to be that pure smile with which Emir once described her. It seems that her attitude of teasing others got the better of her, proving to be a lover of battles.

'- I know your front paws are expanding; don't hesitate to make that attack. I have long since devised a countermeasure!' But despite appearances, Miria can still think straight.

She's not a battle maniac entirely. It's just that she's more excited than usual.

When the distance between them decreased to 2m, the teriar roared skyward. The next second, its forelegs expanded and widened considerably, rivaling the size of a floor boss's paws.

"Be careful, Miria!"

"I know!"

Perhaps due to Miria's reckless attitude, the attack was thrown in her direction.

'- Yes! This is just what I expected!'

At the very moment the attack came towards her, Miria applied strength to her feet by performing a great leap.

In midair, the teriar's paw passed just centimeters away from her body.

'- How agile!' Alessia was surprised to see this.

Avoiding the attack, Miria looked towards the monster and changed her stance, leaving her saber in a vertical line. According to its trajectory, the saber will pierce through the teriar's head!

*Boom*

*Slash*

The paw smashed into the ground, generating a minor tremor along with a crack, while the saber continued descending mercilessly... Unfortunately, the monster managed to jump to the side.

"I managed to damage its neck! Your turn, Alessia!"

"Yes!"

With the monster badly injured, Alessia didn't hesitate to attack.

"Ggggrr"

Seeing this, the teriar expanded its paw by 2 meters and directed its attack towards Alessia.

'- It's the same attack with which it attacked Miria… Even though I can't perform her same feat, that doesn't mean I'll be easy prey!'

Within seconds of the paw approaching her head, Alessia jumps to the side and spins on the ground. After two spins, she rises from the ground and attacks the monster.

Although the monster tried to avoid Alessia's sword, the wound and the poison running through its blood made it impossible for it to give its best.

*Slash*

The sword performs a second slash to her neck.

"We're here!" shouted Zia.

"Attack at will!" Irina ordered.

With two serious wounds on its neck, the teriar looked at the four women with its eyes narrowed. It will lose consciousness any moment now.

'- I must take advantage and attack it now, before it thinks of retreating.'

Without hesitation, Irina runs towards the monster and attacks it with her spear. The teriar makes a last-ditch effort to attack her with its expanded paw, but...

"I don't have a shield for nothing!"

Zia appears in front of Irina and raises her shield. The next instant, the paw and shield collide, generating sparks in the process.

'- No! That attack can't be blocked! I must help Zia!'

Alessia tries to approach Zia but then abruptly stops. With great skill, Zia moves her body in coordination with her shield, resulting in the successful deflection of the monster's huge paw.

As this happens, Irina approaches the monster with a thrust.

*Fwoosh*

The spear cleanly pierces the teriar's left shoulder, piercing its heart. Golden particles surrounded it, bringing the battle to an end.

[Black Blood]

"Whew... That was great, Alessia! We make a good combination!" Miria jumped towards Alessia, hugging her.

"Huh?!"

Not knowing how to react at first, Alessia returned the hug as she realized that Miria's smile was once again that pure one.

'- It is almost certain that Zia will scold her for her previous decision...' Alessia thought.

"Good job, both of you. Now let's back off. We don't want our scent to mix with the bait," said Zia.

But contrary to her expectations, Zia didn't even mention Miria's reckless move.

'- Could it be... Is Miria actually skilled at avoiding attacks that should be impossible to avoid?'

With that question in mind, Alessia and the others went back to hiding among the branches of the trees.

The next one is coming.

Sometime later, Miria again alerted the others, and they repeated the fight with the next monster.

***

Teriar's sense of smell is not to be underestimated. After slaying two lone monsters, the scent of Alessia's group spread all over the place.

The monsters, as soon as they got close to the bait, started running towards Alessia's group, making the first attack. While this took them by surprise, it was still within their plans, so they simply started the battle a little earlier than expected.

From the sixth monster onward, the battles were against two teriar at the same time. For this, they split up evenly to deal with each of them. When one enemy looked weaker than the other, they would team up to slay it as quickly as possible and focus on the one still standing.

The tenth monster came, accompanied by three of them. Fighting four teriar at the same time was an arduous task, and they had to perfectly time their attacks to avoid any risk.

"Within 15 to 20 minutes, the sun will completely set. We should leave," Irina said as she looked at the sky.

Thanks to their good role division and the tight entrance of their cover, they managed to overcome the waves successfully. Defeating 22 enemies in total.

They walked for about 30 minutes through the meadow and arrived at the meeting place for the 12 teams of adventurers.

Hernan nodded with a smile, realizing that none of the teams were seriously injured. But he looked especially amazed at Alessia's group because he originally thought that such beautiful women would be the first to ask for his help, but he was dead wrong.

'- Unlike the others, they were assigned to the worst location… and not only that, but their group only possessed four members! If they manage to demonstrate a good result, this will be information worthy of telling the superiors.'

"Well done. You have made it through the first day."

His words quickly caused a stir.

"First day? God... We're not done yet?" 

"Haa, I knew it wouldn't be that easy." 

"We already spent two HP potions, and if we spend two more, then the reward won't be enough to afford its value!" 

Before the situation escalates for the worse, Hernan speaks up again.

"Calm down. According to the information given to me by my watchers, only a few monsters returned to the lair. They are so few that, hopefully, tomorrow it will be over... Depending on how many you have defeated, of course."

Their sayings put the teams at ease. Everyone is confident in their hunts.

"That being said... Team 1!"

"Y- Yes, sir!"

The teams were named according to the point on the map they chose. In this case, team 1 chose point number 1, which is a relatively easy location due to its distance from the monster teriar's lair.

"Show me the Black Blood loot you obtained."

'- The Magnetic Rock loot is extremely rare one. Its drop is practically a miracle. There will be no need to ask about it since, with the Black Blood loot alone, I will know how many teriar they have defeated, thus preventing any team from trying to bluff.'

Without making Knight Hernan wait, team 1 displayed the loot in front of everyone.

"Six of them, very well... Team 2!"

"Yes, sir!"

Team 2 also showed their swag.

"Seven in total, huh? Good job, congratulations... Team 3!"

"Team 3!"

Each team showed the loot obtained, with team 6 having obtained ten items, the most obtained so far.

This news in itself is amazing. It is worth noting that, by being outside the labyrinth, the monsters gain intelligence in exchange for strength. They are able to work as a team with each other, are better at avoiding danger, and most importantly of all, they can escape!

In the labyrinth, the monsters only attack head-on without knowing when to retreat. But on the outside, they are different in that they are intelligent. They know fear!

"Team 12!"

Now that their team has been named, they all nod to each other.

'- Since the maximum obtained has been only 10 loots, we shouldn't stand out. As long as we say we have 12 or 13 loots, it will be enough to make a good impression and not attract unnecessary enmity.'

Alessia is catching too much of Emir's personality. And he normally doesn't seek to attract attention. The only exception was in his revenge, where he had to do so.

And when he knows he will attract attention, he has two choices in his hand. Blame it on his alternate identity as the Golden Archer, or end things with a bad ending. And it's in the latter where a disaster will be invoked with a 100% chance of leaving someone traumatized.

'- I don't think it needs to be said out loud by now. They should understand this' Confidently, Alessia let her friends take charge of the situation.

Then, Miria walks to the front and arrogantly removes from her storage ring the spoils obtained from her indiscriminate hunt.

"We got 22 loot in total! Haa... It makes me feel ashamed that the team closest to us only has half of what we have, ha..."

Miria constantly sighed, implying that the monster is not as difficult as they want to describe it, but that they just don't have enough talent to continue.

Alessia: "..."

'-Ah... I forgot that, in this place, most of them are men...'