Keep attacking girls and try not to be killed by them

Heloise and Emilia originally crossed the forest to save time, but there was a large swamp on their path that made it difficult for them to cross.

Fortunately, Heloise found a passage through the swamp, allowing her to continue through the forest without taking a detour. Unfortunately, there were five second-level "Drunken Pig Demons" blocking the road, preventing Heloise and the others from going straight through.

Generally speaking, to deal with five second-level monsters, at least five third-level combat professionals are needed to cooperate. And monsters like the Alcoholic Pig Demon who know how to fight in a team are even more impossible for a two-person team like Emilia and Heloise to deal with.

Just when Heloy was thinking about whether he should come up with some strategy, Emilia, who had always played the role of military strategist, directly gave the simplest and most brutal plan.

"Second-level earth magic: Rock Gram."

Emilia used the "Auto Chant" skill to quickly summon a rock puppet as tall as an adult, and the battle between the two girls and the alcoholic pig demons began without any warning.

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"E-Sister Emilia?!"

After seeing the rock puppet rushing out, Heloise looked at Emilia in disbelief.

If it was the previous Emilia, she would definitely discuss the battle plan with her before taking action, but the current Emilia started the battle arbitrarily.

"Don't worry, Heloise. The outcome of this battle is already on our side."

Emilia calmly replied to Heloise, then chanted "First-Order Earth Magic: Multiple Rock Walls" to erect three stone walls behind the two of them.

Emilia told Heloise not to panic, that she didn't need to take part in the battle, she just needed to retreat with her behind the stone wall and watch from a distance.

While communicating with Heloise, Emilia did not forget to pay attention to the situation on the front battlefield. When the rock puppet successfully attracted the attention of the alcoholic pig demons and started fighting, she immediately released the next magic.

"Second-level fire magic: Flame vortex."

Due to the distance limitation, Emilia was unable to deploy the magic circle directly under the feet of the alcoholic pig demons, but fortunately the fire vortex had a large attack range and could move forward in a circle. In a few seconds, it floated over and burned the alcoholic pig demons who were busy attacking the rock puppets.

For a moment, the monsters screamed continuously, which sounded very pleasant to Emilia's ears.

Although this magic also hurt Emilia's own rock puppet, she didn't care. Firstly, fire-type attacks had little effect on rock puppets, and secondly, the purpose of using rock puppets to attract the alcoholic pig demons together had been achieved.

The raging, swirling flames not only burned the alcoholic pig demons directly, but also ignited their thick, oily bristles.

The continuous burn damage forced the monsters to retreat from the rock golem and they scrambled to roll on the ground trying to put out the fire.

But Emilia will not give them a chance to breathe. Emilia will not miss such an excellent opportunity with the right time, place and people.

"First-level fire magic: Multiple small fireballs."

This time, a flame magic circle unfolded above Emilia's head, and then more than ten small fireballs were shot out one after another, hitting the five alcoholic pig demons that were still rolling on the ground.

At this point in the battle, the situation was indeed one-sided on Emilia's side, but Heloise could see that these thick-skinned and alcoholic pig demons had not suffered much actual damage, only some superficial injuries... When Emilia's magic power was almost exhausted, the situation would be reversed immediately.

——(Oh no, could it be that Emilia-nee has become stupider because of the 『Blood Trial』?)

Heloise began to get anxious. She didn't have the ability to withstand five alcoholic pig demons to clean up the mess for Sister Emilia!

And if she were to run away carrying her sister Emilia, with her arm strength, she wouldn't be able to escape from the forest!

At this time, Emilia seemed to see Heloise's anxiety. She patted Heloise's shoulder and asked her a question.

"Heloise, let me test your common sense as a reward hunter. Do you know why you can't light a fire near a swamp?"

9.63 - Encounter in the Wasteland (Part )

"Hmm? So you can't light a fire near a swamp?"

Heloise subconsciously asked Emilia back. She was stunned by the unexpected question and even forgot that she always had to speak in a childish style.

Emilia smiled for the first time today, but it was a little scary.

"Of course you can't light a fire. It's said that there's a special magical power around the swamp. If there's an open flame, something might happen..."

Before Emilia could finish her words, a deafening explosion suddenly sounded, and Heloise was so scared that she quickly hugged her head and squatted down.

The next second, when Heloise opened her eyes, she was somewhat amused to find that Emilia, who had been very calm just now, was actually squatting beside her, and was slightly sticking her head out from behind the stone wall to check the explosion site in the distance.

"See, Heloise, this is what happens when you use fire near the swamp," said Emilia.

[Note: The technology on the Hell Star world is underdeveloped, so magic is used to explain the phenomenon of fires near swamps being prone to explosions.]

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Following Emilia, Heloise also stuck her head out.

She saw that the forest, which had been relatively peaceful just now, was now in chaos because of the explosion.

Some trees closer to the swamp were the first to be hit. Some were broken by the impact of the explosion, while others were already on fire.

The blazing flames were reflected on the swamp, and ripples were oscillating back and forth because the energy from the explosion had not yet subsided.

The muddy swamp splashed everywhere, and the rolling heat waves spread in all directions. The wild beasts in the distance were frightened and fled in all directions, and the birds flew away from their roosts.

Just one explosion caused such great damage to the ecology of the swamp. Based on his own experience, Heloise judged that the power of the explosion was at least that of a third-level magic, while Emilia only used a few first- and second-level magics to achieve such an effect, which saved at least more than half of the magic power consumption.

As for the five alcoholic pig demons at the center of the explosion, they had already been blown to pieces, their bodies unrecognizable. Heloise's earlier concerns about the direction of the battle vanished with the sound of the explosion.

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Fearing a second explosion, Heloise and Emilia waited until all the flames were extinguished before entering the battlefield to recover the monster's materials.

Of course, they did not just wait there foolishly. Emilia released some first-order water magic with high fire extinguishing efficiency, which greatly accelerated the speed of extinguishing the flames.

Looking at Emilia's back, which suddenly became omnipotent, Heloise sighed in her heart that Sister Emilia was really amazing. After coming to the "Blood Trial", she became even more "powerful".

However, Heloise's description of Emilia was actually biased, because the strength Emilia showed in this battle had nothing to do with "power", but mainly relied on her wisdom and experience.

After becoming a reward hunter again, Emilia always felt that the few years she had spent without working in the Quest Guild was a huge loss and shortcoming.

However, all human experiences can actually be transformed into food for growth, and the same is true for Emilia's work experience in the mission union.

After actually starting the adventure and completing the commissioned tasks, Emilia unexpectedly discovered that all the knowledge she had learned during the mission union was useful.

Whether it's knowledge about survival in the wild or knowledge about monsters and animals, Emilia uses them with ease.

For example, the five alcoholic pig demons they encountered just now, as Heloise judged, are indeed monsters that can work in a team and are very threatening. However, Emilia discovered that these five alcoholic pig demons had just woken up early in the morning and were not drunk yet, so they could not display the unique drunken characteristics of alcoholic pig demons. This gave her an opportunity to take advantage of them - and such weaknesses are impossible to know for people who do not understand monster knowledge.

As for using fire magic to create explosions in the swamp, Emilia learned this from a historical tragedy in the Sunny Town Quest Guild. The situation of that incident was exactly the opposite of what Emilia had just done. The bounty hunters accidentally caused an explosion in the swamp, which eventually led to the tragic end of four deaths and two injuries in the six-person team.

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A moment later, Emilia and Heloise finished recycling the monster materials, quickly crossed the swamp and continued to head towards the other side of the forest.

As long as they passed through this forest, they would only be four or five days away from Yanji City.

While walking, Heloise approached Emilia several times, wanting to talk about Fike (Banning), but Emilia declined every time.

Emilia didn't know what was wrong with her, but she was in a bad mood. Especially when she thought of Banning, she would get angry.

The bad mood greatly affected Emilia's style of doing things. In the past, she would never have used such a risky method to defeat the monster, but now, in order to vent her anger, she became the synonym of "daring to think and dare to do".

Were all these changes caused by the masked traveling merchant I met yesterday? Emilia asked herself this question in her mind, but looking back on the entire process of her contact with him, Emilia didn't feel anything suspicious.

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It was not Emilia's fault that she failed to notice the problem, because the gap in strength between her and the masked traveling merchant was too great.

That seemingly accidental encounter in the desert was actually all arranged by the mask merchant, and even the white ice crystals that Emilia and Heloise obtained in the mission union were actually arranged in advance by the mask merchant.

Without knowing anything, Emilia and Heloise walked out of the forest and continued heading towards Yanji City.

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Time passed quickly, and the sun slowly climbed to the center of the sky.

At noon, the hungry Emilia and Heloise decided to find a place to fill their stomachs.

So, what can the two girls find to eat in this wasteland where there are only weeds as far as the eye can see?

Just when they were looking for food and prey with great anticipation, a cute little snow-white rabbit suddenly jumped out from the dense grass, quickly ran across the grass, jumped over the ditch, and ran away into the distance.

"The life energy bestowed upon us by the Evil Tiger King God has just appeared in a lovely form! Sister Emilia! We must never let down the Evil Tiger King God's gift!" Heloise spoke at an astonishing speed, while keeping her eyes fixed on the rabbit that was running away.

Emilia's response was even more concise, consisting of only ten words.

"First-level lightning magic: Forked lightning!"

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Under the clear sky, blue-purple lightning shot out with a "swish".

According to Emilia's expectations, this one magic spell would be enough to kill the fat white rabbit in one blow, and the electric shock fire would roast the rabbit to perfection, so it only needed a simple processing before it could be eaten.

However, the fat white rabbit "happened" to do a "Z"-shaped jump at the same time as the lightning struck, and escaped from the attack range of the forked lightning at the critical moment.

——(Wha, what?! This rabbit actually tricked me with a fake move?!)

Emilia wanted to tell herself that what happened just now was just a coincidence, but based on her combat experience, it was definitely intentional by the fat rabbit!

Just as Emilia was stunned, the fat rabbit had already run a long distance away. Fortunately, Heloise also took action. She was chasing it on the grass at a speed much faster than the rabbit!

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9.64 - Invisible

On the wasteland covered with weeds, the chubby white little rabbit was running for its life, while the tiger girl Heloise was chasing closely behind.

Although Heloise was faster than the rabbit, the little rabbit was good at zigzagging on the rugged ground, making it impossible for Heloise to find a chance to catch it.

— (Damn it, this Evil Tiger King God’s gift is way too flexible! Is this a test from the Evil Tiger King God to his apostles?!)

At this moment, Heloise remembered the admonitions that the tiger elders had given her.

The elders said that when a lion fights a rabbit, it uses all its strength. Similarly, when a tiger fights a rabbit, it must also use all its strength!

——(Then don’t blame me for unleashing my true power, you weak and cute little creature!)

Heloise suddenly stopped in the middle of a rapid run, all her strength transferred from the soles of her feet to her fingertips, and then she swung out the first white sword energy with the hidden blade in her sleeve.

"Take it! White Tiger Bite!"

In an instant, four sword energies were slashed out one after another. These sword energies not only went straight to the little rabbit's neck, but also blocked its escape routes in front, behind, left and right, making it impossible for it to escape again!

However, something that Heloise had not expected happened again. This extremely flexible fat rabbit miraculously found a way to survive in the blockade of four sword energies. It jumped high to the side and rear with amazing jumping ability, avoiding all the sword energies by a hair's breadth, and then immediately fled into the bushes after landing!

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——(???)

Heloise looked at the direction the rabbit escaped, her head full of question marks.

She even began to suspect that this might actually be a monster that looked like a rabbit, otherwise how could it be able to do what it had just done?

——(Evil Tiger King God, your apostle now understands... This rabbit is definitely a test you sent upon me!)

Heloise took a deep breath and gathered herself together. She was now going to surpass herself in hunting this rabbit!

Full of fighting spirit, Heloise pushed aside the grass and rushed in. Not long after, she found the fat rabbit from before. But what surprised her was that for some reason, this fat rabbit not only lost its spirit, but was also panting, and had to stop and slow down every few steps.

——(Could this be another trap?)

Heloise didn't dare to be careless. She held her breath and concentrated. She first made a fake frontal attack, then made a feint with her sword and jumped sideways to the back of the fat rabbit, swinging a fatal sword to stab the rabbit's abdomen...!

With a "pop" sound, Heloise's hidden blade steadily pierced into the rabbit's abdomen, which surprised Heloise herself because she didn't expect it to be so smooth.

Two seconds later, Heloise drew her hidden blade and then quickly pierced the rabbit's heart, ending its life.

——(How could it be so easy…?)

——(Perhaps he had exhausted all his energy after the intense chase just now?)

Heloise wasn't quite sure what was going on, but it didn't matter. As long as the result was good, it was good. Thinking about it wasn't Heloise's style.

In this way, Heloise, who had successfully hunted, happily brought the rabbit back. After some simple processing, this fat "gift of the evil tiger king god" was soon roasted on the fire, and the aroma of meat wafted out.

Heloise and Emilia sat around the fire, enjoying the breeze blowing from the plains while having a hearty meal.

However, neither Heloise nor Emilia noticed that a young man was watching them from the shadows of a tree not far away.

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