Chapter 169

Chapter 170: Enemies! Grass! Enemies! Fight! (First update of the day, please subscribe!)

At the outskirts of the camp, members of the Hermes Familial Group who were accustomed to operating outside Orario quickly noticed something amiss and raised the alarm to their comrades.

The formerly tranquil evening camp instantly became bustling with noise and commotion. Even those who had already retired to their tents scrambled up and began donning their equipment.

The shouts of the group members and the dense stomping of feet intermingled, creating a tense atmosphere throughout the encampment.

“——Are we under attack!?”

Inside the main tent, sensing the ruckus outside and the shadows flickering on the white canvas from portable magic stone lamps, those discussing battle strategies immediately sprang into action.

“Letsha, you go out there and command everyone to hold their ground around the camp. Don’t act rashly.”

“Asfi, go with her!”

The two faction leaders promptly received instructions from their deity.

With a swift grab of the longsword and bow beside her, Letsha “whooshed” aside the curtain and dashed out first.

Asfi, after gathering her magical artifacts and consumable potions, followed shortly behind.

As leaders of their respective factions, they often took charge in commanding battles.

And when it came to sudden attacks, an organized response versus a chaotic one made all the difference.

“Lord Artemis, I will also go check on the situation.”

“Hold on, Izay. Aren’t you going to take your weapon?”

Artemis, goddess of hunting, couldn’t help but blink at the sight of Izay stepping out of the tent empty-handed while clutching only his short blade and bow.

“Uh… I do have my weapon…”

With a slight motion to the side, accompanied by a faint shimmer of magical light, Izay summoned forth his mysterious weapon.

The over two-meter-long dark silver spear glimmered under the glow of the magic stones, its body etched with mystical patterns that seemed to give it a life of its own.

‘This weapon…’

From the moment Hermes laid eyes on Izay’s spear, he was captivated.

The deity’s instinct told him this weapon was no ordinary artifact.

Though unable to discern its origin or pinpoint why exactly it felt extraordinary, Hermes remained intrigued.

Similarly, Artemis felt a fleeting sense of wonder but dismissed it quickly.

She wasn’t as preoccupied with Izay’s weapon as Hermes was; her primary concern lay with the situation outside and the safety of the children.

Together with Izay, Artemis swiftly emerged from the tent.

“—Huh!? Wait for me!”

Caught off-guard, Hermes was the last to step out of the tent.

By the illuminated magic stones and campfires at the camp’s perimeter, adventurers from both factions were already engaged in combat with the invading monsters.

Led separately by Letsha and Asfi, each commanded their side in battle.

The attacking monsters were of a single type—black new-species scorpion beasts.

There was good news and bad news.

The good news was that the monsters’ ability values were generally low, making them easy prey for the upper-level adventurers of the two factions—literally one-hit kills.

Occasionally, a stronger one would appear, but it would be swiftly dealt with by targeted efforts.

The bad news? The sheer number of monsters was overwhelming. The camp was completely surrounded, which posed a significant challenge.

Despite being within the forest, the young women trained by Artemis, goddess of the hunt, thrived in such environments, moving as fluidly as fish in water.

Each girl performed her duties efficiently, cleaning up enemies with precision.

On the other hand, the Hermes faction operated more like a protective shield.

Even though individually capable enough to handle the swarm of monsters, their natural tendency to cluster around Asfi indicated she was treated as the output core needing protection.

This made perfect sense.

After all, the Hermes faction boasted only one Lv.4 adventurer—Asfi, a rare card who could unleash area-of-effect attacks through her various magical artifacts. Who else deserved protection?

The Hermes faction was a team of four protecting one.

Initially, Izay refrained from joining the fray, assessing the situation.

But not engaging didn’t mean he wouldn’t be sought out.

How could divine blessings be so inconvenient?

The moment Izay appeared on the battlefield, an invisible wave of hormones seemed to ripple through the minds of the black scorpion monsters.

Suddenly…

All notions of attacking adventurers, sensing life force, destroying, killing humans—all these were cast aside.

A single thought dominated the primitive minds of every monster:

Enemies!

Grass!

Enemies!

—Fight!!

“Cough cough, just as expected. Lady Artemis, I’ll be off ahead! I’ll return shortly.”

Quickly perceiving the shift in the monsters’ behavior, Izay crouched low and darted forward.

His terrifying speed whipped up a whirlwind, leaving afterimages in his wake. In no time, Izay found himself amidst the enthusiastic “welcome” of the monsters.

Literal meaning.

Monsters wielding massive pincers stared at Izay with blood-red, savage eyes, focusing solely on him.

“Chirp chirp chirp—chirp—”

Centered around Izay, this patch of land became a disaster zone, filled with sounds that were either cries of agony or excited murmurs.

Izay executed the fundamental tactics of the spear with perfection.

The sweeping range of the large weapon effortlessly tore through the monsters’ bodies, requiring no second strike. Even the magic stones were shattered in the process.

The scorpion-like creatures’ hardened shells proved useless against Izay. Once within spear range, they faced a whirlwind of relentless attacks.

Effortlessly slaughtering the horde, Izay gracefully retreated deeper into the forest.

Given his allure, luring the monsters away was effortless.

Once he led them far enough from the camp, eliminating them would merely require a single spell.

“What’s going on? Why did the attack stop suddenly?”

“Hey hey! Where are the monsters heading?”

“That’s Izay, right? Why are all the monsters running towards him?”

Members of the two factions engaged in battle noticed the strange behavior of the monsters and were left scratching their heads.

Why had the monsters, who were previously charging relentlessly, suddenly halted their assault?

And why were they chasing Izay into the depths of the forest? What kind of attraction did Izay have over them?

“What is Izay doing… what’s happening?”

Watching the monsters being drawn to Izay as if by some form of enchantment, Artemis was slightly dumbfounded.

“Unfortunately, I can’t answer that question either.”

Hermes shrugged helplessly, his expression full of bewilderment.

You ask me? Who should I ask?

He too was curious about why this was happening.