More Monsters

For a whole week, the expedition did not encounter another monster. The members were starting to relax their nerves that were tense since they entered the jungle.

"It's more peaceful in the jungle than I thought," said a mercenary on guard duty.

"That's what I'm saying," said another mercenary. "I can't even see many animals since most of them ran away before we get close. And there are no monster coming out either."

"Yap," a third one joined the talk. "It's quite boring. I hope to see a monster soon."

"Hey! Don't say it like that. What if we actually meet one?! Just thinking about that last battle makes me shiver!"

"This bastard! Aren't you a mercenary? How can you be easily scared like that? That battle was even an easy one. Not even a greenhorn died."

"Yes, yes. Maybe, that monster is weak. I hope to see one more like that one. Its meat is really superb!"

"You guys are too lax!"

The two weapon-master knights frowned when they heard the mercenaries talking from afar. Though they served different lords, they had formed a bond as they shared the same fate.

"Those brats have no sense of fear after defeating a mere 1st-circle monster," one complained.

"They have no idea how strong monsters of higher circles," replied the second knight. "But don't you think that monster was awfully weak. It should be at least at the 2nd-circle to be qualified to occupy a territory in this jungle. It's really strange for one that weak to be here even though it was the outer region of the jungle."

"It was strange indeed. We were lucky to meet that weak monster instead of a strong one."

"I heard the viscount was only aiming to venture in the outer region. Maybe, if all the monsters in this region are like the previous one, we might make it out alive!"

"You are right. I'm starting to see a glimmer of hope now! We have to stay only in the outer region. How can our shabby party made of weaklings go into the deeper parts where even strong veterans could not conquer in the past?!"

The expedition team came across another monster as the mercenaries wanted on the tenth day. It was a snake monster. Huvel casted debuffs on it as usual and his recruits somehow defeated it without suffering heavy casualties again. Two men who took a direct hit of the monster's tail, might have fractured bones but there was no death. They would have suffered more if the snake was venomous but luckily, it was not.

Another monster was encountered at the end of the second week. The battle happened to be quite hard for the knights and the mercenaries even with Huvel's spell because the monster was the leader of a pack of 40 or so wolves! Normally, a 2nd-rank in weapon mastery can easily kill two wolves alone. But the mercenaries were having a hard time against the wolves because the monster casted some spells to buff them.

Seeing that his recruits were at disadvantage, Huvel shifted his focus from the monster to its followers. He casted [Weakness] on them one-by-one as he was afraid his men would also be affected if he casted a spell that covered a big area. The monster joined the battle before his men could kill all the wolves and their battle formation was thus disrupted.

The expedition party successfully killed the monster and all the wolves at the end. Two mercenaries were knocked out when the monster broke their battle formation and they suffered heavy blood loss from their wounds. Many other mercenaries suffered injuries as well but they were not severe. Huvel, chefs and the workers were all safe except for one labourer who lost his mind and senselessly ran away. He was killed by the wolves.

The two heavily injured mercenaries did not lose their lives thanks to the healing potion tube Huvel brought out from within his coat. Huvel wanted to treat all the recruits with healing potion and continued their expedition further. However, when he saw his expedition team looking at the potion tube with wide eyes, he gave up the idea.

For Huvel, healing potion was abundant as he made a lot with the intention of selling them in bulk. But it was not the same for mercenary. Although working as a mercenary was a dangerous line of work, not all mercenaries could afford to carry around healing potion. So, when Huvel casually brought out two tubes of healing potion for the seriously injured men, many people gasped.

Initially, Huvel had the intention to continue the expedition for 3 to 4 weeks. However, since most of his men were injured in the battle against wolves, it would be hard to keep his façade if they were to encounter another monster. Moreover, the morale of the mercenaries was quite low. So, Huvel ordered to retreat.

On his way back, Huvel was accompanied by the Flying Leaf Nymph who had accomplish his mission of marking his territory. With the presence of the nymph, Huvel was not worried to encounter another monster. The expedition team arrived at the Wall of Boswel quickly on their way back thanks to the rough road they paved.

Every single member of the team sighed in relief as they waited for their turn to climb onto the wall through the rope ladder. Huvel was also one of them. On his way back, he was on edge because he was worried that the nymph might remember the memories he altered. Thankfully, the nymph did not show any sign of remembering that shameful past!

The soldiers on the wall were excited to see Huvel's expedition team again. They looked at the team with eyes full of awe and doubt as they went back to the castle of the lord.