20 Chapter 20: Garden of Eden (Prep Phase)

When Mordred and Persephone could see again, they were in a large, open area that was filled with grass and flowers. About 20 meters away, they could see a large forest filled with trees.

Mordred immediately summoned out his sword in his left hand and the Taurus in his right while Persephone summoned a white wand that looked like a horn in her hand.

Both young demons were prepared for anything in this dungeon. The dungeon was not like the previous ones they visited and was one giant floor without any safe zones. The monsters were also more stealthy and intelligent, making them much harder to detect and defeat.

Take for example in the sky above. At first, it seemed like there was nothing there. But if someone had magical or power natural sight, they would be able to see several large bees using [Stealth] to hide mid-air.

Both Mordred and Perse were prepared for almost anything though since they had information on this dungeon from before. They had actually researched all 186 dungeons inside of Tartarus with their tutor Belial along with all of the other children.

Seeing that no one attacked immediately, both relaxed their guards slightly. Mordred decided to summon Nyx since spirits were more sensitive and she might have been able to tell if any enemies were coming around.

When Persephone saw Nyx, she was not surprised at all. She also knew that Nyx could probably sense enemies better than both of them.

Mordred and Nyx began making their way toward the forest in the distance. That was where the boss of the dungeon was located. But before they could walk more than a couple of meters, they noticed that Persephone was standing still.

Seeing Mordred's puzzled look, Persephone explained herself,

" You said that gun thing can is loud and can attract attention, right? So let's do that now. It will scare off those stupid bees and hornets while bringing all the nosey treantlings that are nearby to us.

We can set up a defensive position here to receive them on our terms instead of trying to wait for their ambushes in there. What do you say?"

Mordred could see the merits and the demerits of the plan at a glance. While it was true that they could decide the battlefield and have the advantage of long-range attacks at first, it also meant that they had much less cover if the treants got close enough than they would inside of the forest.

'Guess that just means that we will have to ensure that they do not get too close or else I might have to do even more work than I want to. Hopefully, her aim is as good as she says it is.'

Mordred agreed to the plan before the pair started discussing how they wanted to do it. Since the area was open and there were few materials around, Mordred sent Nyx into the forest to pick up as many sticks as she could in a single trip.

When she returned, she was carrying a large amount but was followed what looked like a man that was made out of a tree. It kept trying to swipe at Nyx while she floated high above it.

[

Species: Treantling

Rank: B

Levels: 20-25

Skills: Tier 3: Crush, Tier 3: Thorn Armor, Tier 3: Stomp

]

Seeing that they had company, Mordred allowed Persephone to act. They did not plan to use his gun yet. It would bring too many enemies before they were prepared.

Persephone raised a single hand and pointed it at the treantling before saying [Firebolt]. A fist-sized ball of fire appeared in front of her hand before launching off of her hand and into the chest of the treantling.

The creature let out a scream of pain and fear as it quickly caught on fire. It tried to roll on the floor to put the fire out but as the fireball had made its way deep into its chest, its actions were meaningless.

Soon, the creature was burnt until all of its bark became black as the life left it.

"Impressive. Your accuracy is that good already? I thought you were just exaggerating your skills."

"Of course it is. My mother has been training me for years. I had all the theoretical knowledge of how to aim and use the most common spells.

After having an entire morning in the dungeons to practice, hitting a target running straight at me that is 20 meters away is no big deal."

Mordred could not deny her skills. She was able to effortlessly and calmly deal with the enemy. Though that was to be expected since she took on an entire dungeon by herself.

Mordred checked his status and noticed that he had received half the system points he would have if he or Nyx killed the treantling themselves.

'So I can still earn system points just not as many. Good to know that now.'

Mordred took the sticks that Nyx had brought and begun sharpening their ends and turning them into spears. After 30 minutes of constant work, they were ready.

The main plan was for Nyx to fire the sticks from above to slow down and weaken the treantlings while Persephone attacked them from a distance.

Mordred would only act when they got within 10 meters of Persephone to ensure that none got too close.

Mordred raised his gun and aimed it at the forest in front of him. He pulled the trigger five times in succession at the forest in hopes of maybe landing a stray shot.

His hopes were dashed when he did not get any notification as he was reloading the gun bullet by bullet.

Persephone had covered her ears after the first shot and looked at Mordred shocked.

'I knew that thing would be loud but not this loud!'

Mordred saw her look and knew that she was right. If it hurt her ears who was standing further back, it would also hurt his sensitive ears. He had already started to plan how to fix it though.

"I plan on putting a dampening or silencing inscription on these things. Otherwise, they would cause me to go deaf within a few months."

Persephone eagerly nodded at that. The gun was just way too loud compared to what she was expecting.

"This might be a bigger deal than we thought. That was louder than I expected so we may invite more treantlings than we can handle."

"If need be, just use your [Frostball] and [Bind]. I can handle anything that gets too close."