"What's your name, Mister?" Fennelis asked while looking at the tall adventurer.
"Hooper, ma'am. I'm a B-rank adventurer. These are my companions." Hooper said while pointing his finger at the three humans who sat near him. One was a short, muscular male around 50 years old with a war hammer beside his chair.
The other two were women. Both had black hair and fair skin, which belonged to natives of the Keris kingdom and had an average height. At that moment, the three of his companions shifted their gaze towards the trio and gave a short introduction.
"Good morning, ladies. I'm Smith, but people usually call me 'Crazy Smith.'" The short, gray-haired guy greeted them with a chuckle. He was around 35 years old, had tan brown skin, blue eyes with darker limbal rings, and had few wrinkles on his face.
At that moment, one woman stood up and politely greeted them.
"Pleasure to meet you. I'm Selma." She had long wavy hair, deep blue eyes, high arched eyebrows, and was around 25 years old. She wore light black metal armor outside her brown shirt and same-colored pants. She also had a short curved sword on her waist and looked like a professional swordsman.
Both Fennelis and Roysia greeted her in response and soon shifted their gaze towards the other woman, who wore a stern look on her face.
Without minding their gaze, she ate a roasted chicken piece placed on the front plate and moved her gaze towards the next plate. Unlike Selma's wavy hair, this woman's hair looked curly and shiny. She also had void-like dark eyes, thin eyebrows, a round face, and a pear-shaped body with average-sized melons. She had a dagger on her waist and didn't put any armor on her black shirt.
"She is Nadine. Please don't get offended by her rude behavior. She is always like that. We all are B-rank adventurers." Noticing their gaze, Selma bowed her head a little and spoke with a weak smile on her face.
Meanwhile, Fennelis and Roysia introduced themselves and asked for more details about the town's current situation.
After a few exchanges, the trio bid farewell to those adventurers and returned to their room with grave expressions.
"Lady, do you think someone is targeting us?" After shutting the door from inside, Fennelis asked suddenly.
"What do you mean?" Roysia became puzzled a little and asked while showing a confused expression on her face.
"No, it's just a feeling. Like somebody is planning to trap us here." Fennelis's face grew solemn as she said those words.
"You maybe feel like that due to your past experiences, my friend. Please don't fret about it. The town guards will capture the culprit soon, and we will get out of here safely." Roysia said calmly and walked out of the room as if she didn't put much thought into this.
...
Alastall woodland, Amaryllis town.
28th April, it was around 7 A.M.
At that moment, Abium woke up from his deep sleep and checked the divine fragment before going for the monster subjugation.
Afterward, he went to the dining hall and requested a maid bring breakfast. A few minutes later, the maid returned with food and started serving. He soon had two slices of toast with bacon and butter and drank a cup of lemon tea. Then, he went back to his room and sat in a meditative position.
A heartbeat later, he found himself inside the empty void and stared at the small finger-sized divine fragment hovering in front of him. That white fragment floated before his chest and seemed to be attached to his body by some invisible force.
Slowly, Abium focused on the divine fragment and studied it carefully. After a few minutes of study, he understood how to absorb its divine energy.
'If I want to increase my spirit power, all I have to do is just concentrate on the divine fragment and pull out the divine energy.' He nodded in understanding and quickly pulled out a cloud of energy. The next instant, a white cloud appeared from the divine fragment and assimilated into his soul.
He continuously absorbed the spirit energy from the divine fragment for the next fifteen minutes and stopped. At that moment, he felt a sharp headache starting to appear in his head and realized that it must be due to exhaustion.
'Hmm, it seems I need to take some rest after every fifteen minutes of absorption.' Enlightened, Abium nodded and soon checked his status to confirm how many points were raised. A second later, he was surprised that his spirit power improved from 16 to 17.1 in a blink!
'Heh, if I continue to improve using this for the next few months, I will be able to break through into the next tier.' A wide grin appeared on Abium's face. Alas, he didn't know how much divine power was stored inside this divine fragment.
'I need to study more about it later.'
After that, he went to the waiting hall and waited for others to arrive.
After an hour, one by one, Lily, Sarah, Helena, Kuran, Claude, and other soldiers walked into the waiting hall. Without wasting any time, the group departed to the northern gate direction and soon moved outside.
"Where should we start first?" Claude asked curiously.
Meanwhile, Abium fell silent for a few seconds and said with a flat tone.
"First, we will hunt the monsters near our town. Then, we will start hunting the monsters on the way to the underground tunnel."
"Good then," Claude and others nodded in unison and started their hunt till evening. During the time, they even found two goblin herds nearby and killed more than a hundred goblins. By the time they returned to the town, it was almost dawn.
'If Uncle Claude and others start hunting for the next two months, I think everyone will improve their skills and may get ready for facing intermediate tier monsters alone.' Abium thought to himself and soon returned to the manor along with others.
…
12 Border Street, Roguedale, Keris Kingdom.
29th January, It was around 2 A.M,
At that moment, Fennelis sat on the soft bed with sharp eyes and was on guard. Meanwhile, Umi placed her head on her lap and slept soundlessly.
'There are no abnormal movements. Was I wrong?'
Still, she didn't dare to sleep and went on high alert mode.
'I don't know what is happening, but I still feel uneasy inside.' Fennelis muttered to herself and suddenly saw Umi starting to wake up with half-sleepy eyes.
"What happened, Umi? Are you not well?" She asked in a concerned tone.
"No, Mama. I feel someone is staring at us." Umi said solemnly and shifted her gaze towards the outside through the window.
Without delay, Fennelis tapped her spatial ring and brought out her sword. She didn't even ask questions and solely trusted Umi's intuition.
'My daughter is special. If not, I don't think any deity would become interested in a mortal.' She was very proud of her child. After looking for a moment, she grabbed her daughter's hand and walked outside their room. Soon, she arrived in front of Roysia's room and knocked on the door harder.
Click!
After a few seconds, Roysia opened that door with a half-dazed expression and asked in puzzlement.
"What happened?"
"I think today's night is going to be a long one-." Before she could finish her sentence, the nearby two rooms opened with clicks. Hooper, Crazy Smith, Selma, and Nadine walked out of their rooms a second later. Unlike the previous day, they were fully armed and appeared ready for any unexpected battle.
"Did something happen, ma'am?" Hooper asked, glancing at the three of them in confusion.
"Not yet. But I have a feeling someone is watching us." Fennelis said seriously. Meanwhile, Roysia glanced around the gloomy corridor and started to frown deeper.
At that moment, Selma spoke with a startled face.
"It seems Nadine's assumption was right," Noticing Roysia's confused expression, Hooper let out a wry smile, glanced at Nadine, and started to explain.
"She is Lady Nyara's believer and has a unique ability to sense danger. She is also very good at assassination." Hooper's words made Fennelis's expression stiffen for a second.
'She is Lady Nyara's believer? It is the first time I hear something absurd like this. But meeting a believer here seems to be too much of a coincidence.' Fennelis felt that tricky goddess was pulling strings and felt more troubled. But she quickly calmed herself down and thought of facing the current problem.
"So, can you guess the location of the enemy through the danger sensing ability?" Roysia got slightly interested and asked as she glanced at Nadine.
Meanwhile, Nadine nodded and pointed her forefinger towards Fennelis's room. The next instant, everyone's face turned serious. They all unsheathed their weapons without delay and stared at the door cautiously.
After a second, Fennelis took the initiative and opened the door with a slight push. The door opened with a slight creaking noise, causing goosebumps all over. Everyone became tensed up as they saw what was hiding inside. Inside the room, they saw a black humanoid figure with two scarlet eyes standing on the bed. Because of the darkness, they couldn't see its appearance. But when the humanoid figure noticed them, it began to disappear as it was never there before!
"It vanished?" Roysia arched her eyebrows upwards and asked in surprise. But Fennelis didn't relax a bit because she remembered a familiar scene and got more anxious. It was her experience in the pocket dimension.
"Don't let your guard down. The enemy may have the ability to cast an invisible spell or to teleport." She said with a grim tone.
Her words caused everyone to guard up instantly. Then, everyone entered the room cautiously and gripped their weapons tighter.
"Arrggghhhh!" Before they could mutter another word, a painful scream came from the next room.