Chapter -28
Pirancheva entered the monster habitat of Berti Gorge. As her scent spread through the gorge on the wind, monsters sensitive to smell swarmed towards Pirancheva.
However, the monsters didn’t rashly charge at her.
Being monsters with keen senses of smell, they could also detect the scent of blood soaked into Pirancheva’s body.
If they smelled the blood of a monster higher on the food chain than themselves on Pirancheva, they wouldn’t easily attack. Instead, they would loiter around, watching for an opening, and only strike when Pirancheva showed a gap.
This behavior was an instinctive survival tactic for these monsters.
Conversely, monsters with dull senses of smell would charge recklessly and attack without regard for such things, with goblins being the prime example.
“Kee rook… Kikirook……”
Goblins usually patrolled the area around their habitat in groups of three to five, and upon spotting a human, they would often attack mindlessly.
As the goblins spotted Pirancheva and rushed her, she drew the sword from her waist and charged towards them.
The goblins held crude weapons like wooden clubs and hand axes, but Pirancheva swung her sword at them without hesitation.
A goblin swung its wooden club at Pirancheva, who blocked it with her sword and kicked the creature away with her foot.
Thump!
Leaving the goblin tumbling from the kick, she moved her sword towards another goblin rushing from the side.
Her movements weren’t those of a formalized swordsmanship style but were free and fluid.
“Kueek!”
A goblin slumped down, its flesh cut and bleeding from a single stroke.
Judging that the deep wound meant it couldn’t survive, Pirancheva moved towards another one.
Swish!
Hand axes and wooden clubs cut through the air as they closed in on Pirancheva, but she watched the movements of the goblins’ weapons and moved her feet accordingly.
Her movements were as natural as water flowing from a high place to a low one.
Swipe… Slash…
Pirancheva evaded the goblins’ attacks, passing right through them.
“Kueeeek!”
Two goblins fell with grotesque cries, blood splattering in all directions.
Having dealt with three goblins in an instant, Pirancheva looked at the last one, still tumbling from her kick.
As the goblin tried to flee in fear, Pirancheva picked up a fallen hand axe and threw it at the creature.
Thwack!
The hand axe embedded itself precisely in the back of the goblin’s head.
Having easily disposed of the four goblins, Pirancheva immediately left the scene.
Once she was gone, the monsters that had been following at a distance pounced on the goblin corpses, tearing into them to fill their hungry stomachs with satisfied expressions.
And so, as Pirancheva passed through the goblin habitat, she encountered groups of goblins several times but got through them without much difficulty.
After that, Pirancheva used Mana Feeling to sense the monsters around her.
She had the ability to handle encounters with goblins, but she needed to be prepared for monsters higher on the food chain.
Especially if she encountered beast-type monsters like Saber Tigers, Black Wolves, or White Bells, it would not only be troublesome but potentially life-threatening.
When Pirancheva used Mana Feeling, her mana circle rotated, resonating with external mana and spreading out around her, covering an impressive range of 500 meters.
It was a vast improvement compared to when she was a 3rd Circle mage.
Pirancheva read the information roughly conveyed by the mana from all directions, distinguishing whether a monster was a threat or one she could handle.
“Against these, one or two might be fine, but if they’re in a group, I can’t win.”
Using Mana Feeling, Pirancheva distinguished whether monsters were alone or in groups. If she could handle them, she would confront them; if not, she moved to avoid them.
Moving while avoiding monsters like this, Pirancheva managed to reach one of the many orc habitats.
There were several orc habitats in Berti Gorge, and the one Pirancheva found was a small tribe closest to the Berti territory, with a relatively small number of orcs.
“Huh… This is a bit problematic.”
The movements of the orcs detected by Mana Feeling had ceased. The absence of movement in the tribe meant one of two things.
Either the tribe had moved elsewhere, or they were all dead!
Pirancheva entered the orc tribe. Judging that without movement or life signs, it shouldn’t be a threat.
“This is…”
She saw orcs lying fallen.
Pirancheva cautiously approached a dead orc and examined it. It had been killed by magic, and she could tell it wasn’t ordinary magic but a Poison-type spell among dark magic.
“Lately, it seems like traces of dark mages are appearing frequently.”
Although the attempt to frame Count Ilya’s family had failed, the dark mages had since plotted conspiracies with improved methods and attacked territories, with quite a few territories falling victim.
Most of the lords of the sacrificed territories shared the commonality of having lost the trust of their people.
Lords who were powerful or enjoyed the faith of their people received help from the populace, but those who didn’t were ousted by their people first.
As the situation grew strange due to the dark mages, lords had no choice but to implement various welfare policies and provide conveniences to gain the people’s trust, and these efforts were a great help from the Emperor’s perspective.
“According to the Mercenary Guild, the Empire has a secret inspection team tracking the dark mages, but it seems they haven’t produced significant results yet.”
Although the inspectors were tracking them, clues about the dark mages remained shrouded in mystery.
Pirancheva examined the dead orc and frowned.
“It hasn’t been long. So, it’s highly likely they are still in the gorge. Can I win if I fight them?”
Even with her abilities as a 5th Circle mage and Sword Expert, facing multiple dark mages alone was a matter that required careful thought.
Chasing after an opponent she couldn’t beat was foolish. Pirancheva thought for a moment and shook her head.
“There’s no reason for me to risk my life chasing them.”
Pirancheva looked at the dead orcs and smiled.
“I think this is the first time the dark mages have helped me.”
She pulled out the molars of the dead orcs, used purification magic to clean the poison mixed within them, and stored them in her bottomless pouch.
“This request turned out to be a real honey job.”
Going around the orc habitat and pulling molars from the dead orcs, she managed to obtain more molars than the request required.
Seeing that even the young orcs in the habitat were dead, it was clear the dark mages had slaughtered all the orcs here.
“Since all the orcs are dead, other creatures will take over this habitat.”
That was the nature of monsters.
She didn’t know if the monster taking over this habitat would be orcs, goblins, or Saber Tigers, but she thought it wouldn’t be long before another monster settled here.
“Then, let’s go catch the Stacato.”
Since she hadn’t expended much energy dealing with the orcs, Pirancheva headed straight for the habitat of the Stacato, a giant snake known as the predator of Berti Gorge.
“Somehow, it seems the dark mages have the same goal as me.”
On her way to the Stacato’s habitat, Pirancheva found traces of the dark mages several times, and those traces led towards the Stacato’s habitat.
“Are these guys aiming for my prey?”
Back in her Freedom days, Pirancheva had never let anyone take what was hers.
However, she couldn’t just mindlessly fight the dark mages.
“First, I’ll confirm with my own eyes and then decide. And if I can ambush them, I’ll ambush and catch them.”
If possible, she would take action, but if she judged she couldn’t win, she would turn away without hesitation and get as far away from the dark mages as quickly as possible.
“First, stop Mana Feeling.”
The dark mages might detect the flow of moving mana from Mana Feeling, realize someone was approaching, and set a trap, so she decided to rely on her own senses instead of Mana Feeling.
“The Heavenly Demon Art is a great help at times like this.”
When using her own senses, the range was narrower, but she could approach to some extent while avoiding the enemy’s eyes.
The more she mastered the Heavenly Demon Art, the more she felt her super senses developing.
And so, Pirancheva cautiously approached the Stacato’s habitat. Fortunately, she didn’t encounter any living monsters on the way.
“They’re definitely after the Stacato.”
Seeing the dead monsters, she could be sure.
Pirancheva circulated the internal energy method of the Heavenly Demon Art to control her body.
‘First, lower the heart rate.’
The human body emits heat based on heart rate. The faster the heart rate, the higher the heat emitted from the body.
Conversely, a slower heart rate results in lower body heat.
Some might say how much heat could a human body possibly emit, but there are monsters that react to this heat.
The Stacato she was now hunting was also a type of reptile, a snake sensitive to environment and heat, capable of detecting the presence of intruders from minute temperature changes.
Pirancheva slowed her heart rate, making her body temperature and even her scent fainter.
It was possible with magic too, but due to the presence of dark mages, she used the Heavenly Demon Art instead of magic to control her body. Sometimes, this method was more effective than magic.
Having finished her preparations, Pirancheva entered the Stacato’s territory.
KABOOOOM!
“Kuoohhh!”
Upon entering the Stacato’s territory, a loud explosion and the Stacato’s scream echoed.
As Pirancheva had predicted, it seemed the dark mages were fighting the Stacato.
Pirancheva carefully approached.
Crawling low on her stomach, the sight of the dark mages fighting the Stacato below came into view.
“This reminds me of the times I used to watch players hunting a boss monster and then backstab them for an easy meal.”
Pirancheva recalled her Freedom days and watched carefully.
The Stacato was a giant snake, easily over 70 meters long, with a girth that looked to be at least 30 meters.
Its skin was protected by overlapping double scales.
The dark mages weren’t trying to hunt the formidable Stacato with clumsy magic directly; instead, they seemed to be trying to poison it first and then kill it, using Poison-type magic while dodging its attacks to buy time.
“Kuooooh!”
The Stacato appeared to be suffering from the poison, but it revealed its inherent ferocity and savagery, fiercely attacking the dark mages who came to hunt it.
Its long tail swept through a large arc, and the dark mages used their respective methods to evade.
“Keuuhk!”
When one dark mage failed to dodge and was struck hard by the tail attack, collapsing, the Stacato swiftly moved, coiled around him, and constricted.
Crunch! Crunch!
The dark mage’s bones shattered, and he died on the spot. The Stacato then opened its large mouth and swallowed him whole in one gulp.
“It’s as big as a mountain, but it’s faster than a cat.”
Pirancheva hid and watched their fight for a long time, trying to memorize the Stacato’s movements, its patterns.
The reason was that although the dark mages were trying to kill the Stacato with poison, it was clear the poisoning effect was progressing slowly, perhaps because it was a snake accustomed to venom.
It seemed the dark mages would die before the poison killed the Stacato.
“If the dark mages die, it will probably move to cure the poison.”
Therefore, she needed to damage the Stacato before it could detoxify the poison, rendering its body incapable of detoxification. To do that, she herself would have to fight the Stacato to some extent.
“Low Resist!”
As the dark mages cast a spell, the Stacato thrashed violently.
The dark magic spell Low Resist drastically lowered the target’s resistance, reducing the Stacato’s tolerance and resistance to poison, allowing the poisoning effect to progress faster.
As it thrashed, the surroundings were devastated by the Stacato’s massive body.
The Stacato’s convulsions were so severe that the vibrations could be felt even up where Pirancheva was lying and peeking.
It seemed the dark mages hadn’t anticipated such violent thrashing, as another one was crushed to death under the Stacato’s body.
It was unclear how many dark mages had initially come to challenge the Stacato, but only three remained.
The remaining dark mages also cast Low Hex, a spell that severely lowers the target’s abilities.
Instantly, the Stacato’s movements slowed, and its defense dropped momentarily. Consequently, its previously fast and sharp attacks naturally diminished.
“Attack!”
The dark mages used Dark Arrow and Dark Spear to attack the Stacato. Unable to dodge, the Stacato had to endure the blows directly.
Even though it was hit head-on by the powerful Dark Spear, it only thrashed about; the sturdy skin wasn’t pierced.
“It’s like a bulletproof vest.”
Watching the Stacato’s thrashing, Pirancheva thought about what magic could pierce its tough, resilient skin as she observed the battle.
“Maybe a Pile Driver could pierce it? And if it does pierce, I could throw a dagger into the wound and use Lightning Shock to electrocute it. That might be a way to finish off the weakened creature. But I’d have to deal with those guys first.”
Pirancheva lay completely flat, looking at the dark mages fighting the Stacato.
“It would be nice if he takes out one more for me.”
