"Aisha! Are you alright!"
Samira's voice rang beside her ear.
"Cough... I'm fine."
Aisha covered her head and slowly stood up, feeling as if the scenery before her eyes was swaying slightly.
"That damned toad!"
Recalling what had happened a few seconds earlier, Aisha's expression turned grim.
The moment she saw a handsome man, she completely lost her rationality and failed to consider the consequences of her actions.
They were still on an expedition.
If something went wrong here, the Guild's investigation and accountability alone would become an enormous headache.
"Samira, go call the others over. We need to stop..."
"Help! Someone is trying to kill me!"
A loud cry for help suddenly echoed across the area.
Aisha and Samira both froze and looked toward the direction the voice came from.
In their line of sight, Phryne stood in front of the blond man with a vulgar smile spread across her face.
In the next second, rustling sounds came from the surrounding forest as hundreds of fully armed adventurers rushed out.
At the very front of the group was a girl wearing a white top paired with a red nurse uniform. She held a magic sword in her hand and pointed it directly at Phryne.
"That is..."
Aisha frowned.
The girl's face looked somewhat familiar, as if she had seen her somewhere before.
But before she could recall the girl's identity, a blazing flame erupted.
Boom!
The magic sword in the girl's hand activated, releasing a massive burst of fire.
Immediately afterward, hundreds of armed adventurers rushed toward Phryne and the Ishtar Familia's camp with their weapons drawn.
"Eh?"
Aisha stood there in shock.
What kind of development was this?
Everything had happened far too quickly.
By the time Aisha reacted, the members of the Freya Familia had already rushed right in front of her.
Standing at the front was the blond man who had instigated the entire conflict.
He held a greatsword with both hands and swung it down toward Aisha without any hesitation.
"Hey! Wait a minute!"
Aisha reacted immediately and drew a large saber from her waist.
Bang!
When the two weapons collided, a heavy and overwhelming force crashed down on her, sending Aisha flying backward.
"LV4?!"
Aisha, who had been about to say something, cried out in shock.
What kind of joke was this?
Level 4 adventurers were not common goods. Where had this Level 4 suddenly come from?
At that moment, a series of screams erupted all around them.
The adventurers who had invaded the camp all displayed strength that was no weaker than her own.
Every one of them possessed Level 3 or Level 4 combat ability.
In other words, the hundreds of adventurers attacking them were all Second Class Adventurers.
Recalling the nurse uniform girl she had seen earlier, Aisha finally realized the enemy's identity.
"You are from the Freya Familia?!"
"So what if we are."
The blond man kicked Samira away and looked at Aisha with a completely expressionless face.
"The assault of Ishtar Familia Executive Phryne on a member of the Freya Familia is something everyone witnessed."
"Prepare yourself mentally. This matter will not end easily."
"..."
She had been set up.
Even if Aisha reacted slowly, she finally understood the truth at this moment.
If there was any fortunate point, it was that the enemy had not deployed any First Class Adventurers.
With Phryne, a Level 5, present, and with Haruhime's magic...
Wait a minute.
Where had Haruhime been placed?
Shing!
A cold blade flashed past as Aisha quickly grabbed her arm and retreated.
"You dare get distracted in a situation like this? It seems I am truly being underestimated."
"Damn it!"
Aisha's expression grew heavy.
Facing a powerful Level 4 opponent head on, even protecting herself was uncertain.
The task of locating Haruhime would have to be left to someone else.
...
On the other side of the battlefield.
Van was the first to charge into the Ishtar Familia camp, wielding a sword in each hand.
As a Level 4 member of the Freya Familia, he participated in battles on the Battlefield Plain almost every day.
From Level 1 to Level 4, he had accumulated extensive experience fighting against multiple enemies.
Now, facing the siege from the Ishtar Familia members, he fought like a raging beast, cutting down most of the enemies in front of him with every strike.
However, at that moment, he suddenly noticed something.
The Amazon girls on the battlefield seemed to be deliberately guarding a tent not far away.
"Interesting."
Van suddenly increased his speed and cut down all the Amazons blocking his path.
His figure flashed forward as he arrived in front of the tent and reached out to pull open the entrance.
In the next second, a wooden chest over a meter tall appeared floating in mid air.
Ryuu: "..."
The timing could not possibly be worse.
Letting out a silent sigh in her mind, Ryuu raised her wooden sword without hesitation and brought it down.
Thud.
Van, who had not even had time to react, was struck squarely and sent flying out of the tent.
Without even looking back, Ryuu lifted the wooden chest onto her back and ran away at full speed.
"Finally lost them."
More than ten minutes later, Ryuu glanced behind her and finally relaxed slightly.
Those people from the Freya Familia were practically like rabid hunting dogs.
The moment they discovered that an invisible person had escaped from the battlefield, they immediately sent someone to chase her.
If she had not been familiar with the surrounding terrain, she might not have been able to shake them off.
Arriving at a secluded corner, Ryuu removed her helmet and opened the wooden chest.
Inside, a trembling Fox Girl appeared before her.
"Don't be afraid, I'm not a bad person."
"..."
Haruhime trembled even more violently.
Seeing this, Ryuu immediately realized that her choice of words had been extremely poor and quickly corrected herself.
"I'm here to rescue you."
"Rescue me?"
Haruhime looked stunned.
"The exact situation is complicated. For now, just know that I was sent by Takemikazuchi-sama."
Ryuu used the trump card Cain had prepared in advance.
According to Cain, the moment the other party heard Takemikazuchi's name, she would calm down.
Sure enough, upon hearing those words, Haruhime gradually regained her composure.
"Takemikazuchi-sama... is that lord currently in Orario?"
Ryuu nodded.
Although she had never personally met Takemikazuchi, she had heard of the Takemikazuchi Familia.
Thanks to their improved bait, the Takemikazuchi Familia had become fairly well known among adventurers.
Working daily at The Hostess of Fertility, Ryuu had heard many adventurers talk about them.
After sharing this information with Haruhime, she quickly gained the fox girl's trust.
"Miss Ryuu, earlier when I was inside the chest, I heard fighting outside. Was that you?"
"It was not me. It was the Freya Familia."
"The Freya Familia?"
Even Haruhime, who was usually confined within the Familia, understood the significance of that name.
"Why would they do that?"
"I do not know either."
Ryuu shook her head.
"I simply received a request to meet you and happened to run into their attack."
"It is too dangerous to stay at the camp right now. Come with me back to the surface first."
"But Miss Aisha and the others..."
"Do not worry about casualties."
Seemingly guessing what Haruhime was thinking, Ryuu answered before she could finish speaking.
"The Freya Familia members are holding back. As long as the wounded receive proper treatment after the battle, they should recover within a few weeks."
There was one more point that Ryuu did not mention.
On a battlefield filled with Level 3 and Level 4 adventurers, a single Level 1 returning would not make any difference.
After finally persuading Haruhime, Ryuu handed the invisibility helmet to her.
"That wooden chest is too conspicuous. Put this on and follow me."
...
Read advance chapters on p@treon
[email protected]/guilt_free_daoist
Join disc0rd link in synopsis.
GIVE ME YOU POWER STONES.