The next day, early in the morning.

After camping overnight, the convoy packed their luggage and continued their journey. Hecate, who had another four hours of rest before the departure time, had filled her login limit to the fullest.

The moment she reappeared inside the carriage, Kaire and Floire suddenly frozen on the spot.

Their expression were indescribable, mixed with guilt and shame from what happened last night. At first, they couldn't understand why this loli could appear inside the barrier that Floire deployed. If she were to enter by breaking the barrier, Floire would know it immediately. But the barrier was intact and she just appeared inside without much problem.

Now they know the reason.

Touya noticed the awkward atmosphere from the two and asked them worriedly.

"Is there something wrong? You two did not look good." (Touya)

"Ah... it's nothing..." (Floire)

Floire looked away as she replied.

Minami also expressed her worries. Although Floire said nothing, but her expression was so easy to understand that everyone who saw it would  know that something had happened.

"Really? If you're sick, just tell me. We can abort this quest." (Minami)

"No, no, no. No need to abort our quest. It was our personal problem." (Kaire)

This time, it was Kaire who answered.

"Personal problem?" (Minami)

Kaire did not say anything else. However, Minami noticed that Kaire and Floire occasionally stole their glances at Hecate. She could conclude that their weird behavior was involved with this girl.

Hecate, who has been silent from the beginning also noticed their glance. She then said.

"Don't worry about last night. I won't say anything that makes your life difficult." (Hecate)

She paused for a bit, before continuing with a smile.

"You two have shown me such a beautiful view. If there's a next time, I'd like to see it again." (Hecate)

"Ahahaha, it would be our honor if you like it." (Kaire)

Kaire replied with an awkward laugh, while Floire's face instantly turned red from embarrassment.

Touya and Minami who didn't know what they were talking about could only be confused. The three of them were talked so vaguely that it was hard for them to mix up.

Even so, they couldn't help but try to join the conversation.

"Eh, what is this beautiful view you guys were talking about? I want to see it too." (Minami)

"Yes, I also want to know. It's not fair that you guys only show it to her but not to us!" (Touya)

"DEFINITELY NO!" ×2 (Kaire & Floire)

The siblings unitedly answered Touya and Minami's words with their voices of refusal.

It was purely accidental that Hecate had saw their immoral feast last night. But, to show it to others, they could only refuse. They did not have the hobby of showing off their naked bodies to others, not even to their best friends.

Hearing Kaire and Floire rejection, Touya and Minami couldn't help but shocked. They simultaneously looked toward Hecate with a complicated look.

'Since when did this girl get along with the two siblings, even more so than us?'

'They get along so well that they share secrets together!'

Hecate who received two heated glance couldn't help but tilting her head in confusion.

'Why are they looking at me with such expressions? Did I do something wrong?'

But, she did not have the time to ask.

Because, suddenly someone outside shouted with a loud voice, warned them about the battle that was about to come.

♦♦♦

 

One of Georg's guards who observed the surrounding suddenly noticed about the enemies waiting in the bush.

He then shouted with all of his might.

"Enemy spotted! Everyone! Prepare for battle!" (Guard)

Everyone immediately responded to the shout by getting off the carriage.

The convoy had encountered a pack of wolves, and they had been surrounded. It seemed that they had entered the wolves' territory, and as a natural conclusion, the wolves had set up an ambush.

[ ⁑ ][Gray Ash Wolf - Lv46] (×25) - HP 3000~4000

During the journey, the convoy always maintained an inverted triangular formation, where at each point was protected by a party, ensuring the safety of Merchant Georg's carriage in the center.

The carriage where Sharp Edge party (+ Hecate) were located on the left side.

And currently, they had to face 8 wolves.

"Eat this fist of mine...! TIGER ECHO FIST!!" (Minami)

-530  -535  -540

"Touya! Finish off this one!" (Kaire)

"DOUBLE SLASH!!" (Touya)

-825  -825

"Flo-chan, I need blood!" (Minami)

"Here I come, Minami-chan! HEAL!!" (Floire)

+500

Touya and Minami each faced 4 wolves, Kaire assisted them by weakening the wolves with poisons, while Floire stayed behind as support.

The vanguard did well, they had good cooperation and fast response. And Floire also did well supporting the vanguard, healing them whenever needed.

But sadly, being 3 against 8, they were outnumbered. It didn't take long for their defenses to leak.

GRAAWWWRRR!!!

One of the wolves went past Minami and Touya's blockade and rushed towards Floire's direction.

"Ah... KYAAH!" (Floire)

"FLO-CHAN!!" ×2 "FLOIRE!!" ×1

Touya, Minami, and Kaire's faces went pale.

Unlike them, Floire was just a weak bunny girl without any combat force. She would likely die in a second if she faced any monster. And with the harsh death penalty, she won't be able to login for 24 hours if she died. But even without that, she would be respawned back to Nerkia City and it would be impossible to catch up.

As a Priestess, Floire was the sole healer of the party Sharp Edge and also their lifeline. She was also the only one to have Resurrection skill in the party. Without her, there would be no one to resurrect them if they were to die.

They had all prepared for the worst, waiting for the gory scene of a bunny being devoured deliciously by the wolf...

...Literally.

Fortunately, there was a loli who prevented that to happen.

 

— DISPERSED WATER BOLT (Lv5)! (All rings removed)

WHUSSH! SPLASH!!!

-6200!

 

Before the wolf arrived at Floire's location, something suddenly flew and penetrated the wolf's head.

"Eh? What was that? Water ball?" (Floire)

Floire who had been resigned from her doom was surprised with the situation. That something which looked like a blob of water most likely was a spell that was launched by someone. She immediately looked at the direction where the bullet came from.

In any case, this person had saved her life and she would like to offer her gratitude. But after looking at the savior of her life, Floire's expression suddenly turned awkward.

"Hecate-chan..."

She couldn't help but embarrassed as she recalled about the deal with her last night.

♠♠♠

 

Hecate was quietly observing the entire battlefield from the carriage roof.

Just before the battle started, with her jumping power enhanced by her Acrobatic subclass, she jumped onto the roof without anyone realizing. Then, she opened her minimap and activated the map 3D view function. The geography, allies, and enemies now has been perfectly described as 3D models inside her minimap.

In that moment, the surrounding area within 10 meters was at Hecate's grasp!

This function shouldn't be available normally, except people with the Tracker subclass. Or more precisely, learned a certain skill called Enhanced Minimap, an exclusive skill of this subclass. As for why Hecate was able to use this skill, of course it was because of a certain equipment.

A cheaply bought Monocle from a Native shop.

Normally Hecate wouldn't even want to wear this item if not because of the skill. This monocle wasn't quite high grade and makes her sight somewhat blurry. It was like wearing a glasses made of a plastic bottle.

Moreover, the foreign sensation on her face made her extremely uncomfortable.

'I should replace the glass of this thing when I have time later... But for now, I need to focus on this.'

The main reason why Hecate wore this monocle was related to what she wanted to do.

As for the details, she planned to kill steal everyone!

Because last night Hecate didn't bother interacting with Merchant Georg and his crew, her contribution point was the lowest. To her, they were just Natives passing by and the chances of meeting them again after this quest was over were slim.

It was simply not worthy to lick their shoes to increase favorability.

Henceforth, Hecate planned to brush the contribution point by kill-stealing monsters. But of course, she could only do it secretly without anyone realizing, or else she would gather everyone's hatred.

And for this reason she had to exclude Sharp Edge party from her kill-steal list.

'They're too close to my position, if I kill-steal them they'll definitely notice.'

All she had to do was to launch a barrage of concentrated Water Bolt (Lv5) to the air. With her mana control skill, she could direct the trajectory of her spells in the air, then drop those spells from the sky to kill the monsters. She had to do it this way so that everyone wouldn't realize she was the kill-stealer.

Coincidentally, the sky was cloudy and it looked like it was about to rain. This cloud was a good camouflage to hide her deed.

'Currently, my Precision Mana Control is Lv3. In this level I can compress a Water Bolt down to a size of a marble.
And then, I can control roughly the trajectory of five spells at the same time.'

More than that amount would only greatly burden her brain.

'Okay, preparation completed!'

In that moment, her preparation was completed.

Full Power! Ten rings equipped!

 

— FIVE CONCENTRATED WATER BOLT (Lv5)! 

PHAAW! PHAAW! PHAAW! PHAAW! PHAAW!

 

And so, five water bullets flew through the cloudy sky like a homing missile.

'My spells can stay in the air roughly for about one minute, so I had to be fast.'

Each of these bullets pierced the wolves in front the two parties other than Sharp Edge. Then, once the bullets killed their targets, another five bullets flew and killed another wolves.

 

SPLAT!  SPLAT!  SPLAT!  SPLAT!  SPLAT!

-78200!  -78350!  -78270!  -78330!  -78240!

SPLAT!  SPLAT!  SPLAT!  SPLAT!  SPLAT!

-78320!  -78260!  -78310!  -78280!  -78220!

SPLAT!  SPLAT!  SPLAT!  SPLAT!  SPLAT!

-78210!  -78220!  -78270!  -78330!  -78290!

 

After confirming 15 bullets had hit the target successfully, Hecate nodded with a smile.

'This should be enough.'

With the current kill count, Hecate's current contribution point has risen to the fifth place. She did not have the greed to aim for the first place, so this rank should be enough for a while.

As for the remaining wolves that she did not kill...

'I'm not a demon, I'll give you the loot and the last one for you to kill. You should be thankful to me!'

Having taken off her Monocle, her attention now shifted toward the Sharp Edge party.

♦♦♦

 

Meanwhile, the sudden barrage of 78k damage surprised everyone present on the side of the two parties.

Members of the Fluffy Feral Furry party couldn't help but bewildered. Every wolves except for one, has been annihilated by something transparent that fell from the sky.

"What the heck was that? There's a lot of 78k damage suddenly popping up." (FFF member 1)

"Something has fallen from the sky and killed these wolves!" (FFF member 2)

A same thing also happened on the side of Barazoku Iron Muscles.

"Oh my, I was just about to deliver the finishing blow, but suddenly they were killed." (Deborah)

"Aniki, did you see that? The thing that killed the wolves..." (BIM member 2)

"Yeah, it looked like a drop of water." (BIM member 3)

A sudden horror suddenly filled the minds of the players on both sides.

Even the remaining 2 wolves had lost their will to fight and fled from the place. No one bothered to chase after them. 

That 78k damage streak was simply too incredible and threatening to look at. Their backs couldn't help but sweat profusely, thinking what would happen if they were hit by such an attack. Surely, their bodies would turn into particles in a matter of seconds.

Which powerhouse was passing by? Players or Natives?

If this powerhouse were to rob them, they definitely won't stand a chance!

And at this moment, the side effect of Hecate's spells took effect. As the water bullets fly across the clouds, the temperature around the clouds decreases and accelerates the condensation of water, which in turns, hastened the rain.

Noticing the droplet of water falling from the sky, the players panicked. They were afraid that this water could kill them like what happened to the wolves. And so, they hurriedly take shelter inside the carriage.

But the Natives, or rather, Georg's bodyguards had other feelings.

"This is a miracle!"

"Oh, Goddess Norn, who dwells above, thank you for extending your hand to us, your unworthy children..."

Some of the guards even knelt on the spot, praying piously to the sky.

Rather than fear, what they feel was more like worship.

For them, anything that capable of dealing a series of 78k damage wasn't the doing of a mortal. Most likely, the Goddess Norn had secretly descended and protecting them from harm by creating a divine rain that annihilated the wolves.

As for the proof, right now they stood below the same rain unharmed!

The fact that this rain was due to the spell of a certain loli, was never occurred in their mind.