"I am Natalia, thank you, Zoren," Natalia said as she wiped her tears and smiled. "Can you help me find my friends, please? You can also kill Blade Mantis and get rewards. They are not far from this area."
"Blade Mantis might drop a special sword with a low chance, so it’s a priority," Henry said, "We have to kill it before others. But for now, we’ll clear that one Hive of Willowbees since we are prepared. It should take ten minutes max with the traps as long as you four coordinate properly according to the plan."
"B-But Blade Mantis might be after my friends…" Natalia said while she glanced at the red-haired girl briefly before turning to Zoren.
’Why is that bitch looking out? Let’s hope we aren’t discovered before we pass by them…’
The plan was to distract this group while they went around them and enter deeper into this area to farm a hive or two of Willowbees.
Of course, this plan had two points to clear, and Natalia proceeded to the second point.
"Please, Zoren. I am worried about my boyfriend. I will be eternally grateful if we can go to them right now," Natalia said as her eyes turned teary again.
Natalia felt a stinging pain on her cheek as Zoren angrily slapped her.
"Bitch, do you think I’m a fool? You have a boyfriend already, yet you want me to save them?" Zoren said, his narrowed eyes glinting darkly with lust as he ogled at her and grabbed her wrist tightly.
His other hand went into his storage pouch as he took out a pair of handcuffs, a magic item crafted by Earth Union that disrupts Mana flow to prevent anyone from using skills.
"W-What are you doing?" Natalia found her hands in handcuffs. ’This motherfucker…’
The red-haired girl wanted to say something but stayed silent. ’This piece of trash…’
The boys also wanted to stop him, but if they said anything, Zoren could easily kick them out of the guild.
"I’ll have fun with you when we camp. If you satisfy me, I’ll save your friends," Zoren nastily grinned. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ Novᴇl_Fire(.)net
’That’s it. This bastard needs to die.’
"You better be careful now, you piece of garbage," Natalia coldly said before her clone exploded.
"Arghhh! W-What the fuck!"
Zoren was closest to her, so he was injured. The defensive item on him reduced damage further, so he only got superficial burns.
The three Bronze-rank adventurers were slightly injured, while Henry was unscathed.
On the other hand, Almond and Lily had already passed by the group and arrived around a hundred meters deeper into this area while carrying Natalia’s real body, which was resting behind a tree at the moment.
Lily was in the position to aim at the Beehive that was near that group for the last minute, and the moment she heard the explosion, she released the arrow that went straight through a level 7 Willowbee Worker before hitting the giant beehive the size of a house.
"Hit the Beehive! Kill that bastard!" Natalia hissed the moment her senses regained in her real body.
"What happened?" Almond was surprised at Natalia’s outburst. "What did they do?"
"I already did," Lily said as she looked at Natalia. "They have a knight, so they can’t be in danger even if they are good people, but…"
Her eyes narrowed as she continued, "What happened there? Were they that bad?"
"Not all," Natalia said as she calmed down and continued, "But that blond-haired bastard called Zoren is apparently a big shot’s son, so even that Knight obeys him, not to mention the other three random new recruits of their guild who can’t do anything since they want to join the guild."
Natalia clenched her fists, her eyes trembling, "That bastard slapped me and wanted to rape me. He even put Sealing Handcuffs on me to prevent me from escaping."
She shuddered as some memories surfaced in her mind and hung her head down, her breathing becoming uneven, her fists clenched. "That piece of trash…"
"Sorry, Nat..." Lily walked towards her and hugged her as she caressed her back, "You did well. And don’t worry, we’ll deal with him."
’Does she have some kind of trauma?’ Almond thought as he felt it was the case seeing Natalia’s state.
"Rest for five minutes and relax," Lily said as she wiped Natalia’s tears. "We have time since that group will be busy fighting and fending off that swarm of Willowbees."
Almond looked at the area as a big barrier covered the group. He could not see the people from this position due to the big boulder, but it was clear they decided to stay from the look of the situation there.
"It seems they are gonna kill the Willowbees instead of running."
"That knight is Silver rank level 5, but his barrier skill can easily protect them from these Bronze rank Bees for an hour, even if the Willowbee Queen emerges from that hive, not to mention they won’t have a lack of Mana recovery potions," Lily nodded. "They have plenty of time to prepare and let the four newbies deal with them."
After all, it wouldn’t be worth it if that Knight killed the Willowbees, as nobody would get any EXP.
’What if I use 10 Spirit Explosions at once? What if I stack them…? This is the kind of skill that doesn’t cost Mana but spirits,’ Almond’s eyes glinted, eager to try. But he needed more spirits for this and it wasn’t wise to stay here to collect the Spirits while that group attacked.
They had to move away from them and start killing Willowbees at another hive.
Almond looked into the mysterious Spirit Kodoku pocket where he had put 20 spirits when they left the Goblin Colony. This Spirit Kodoku also had the spirit of Jacob, Lamp, and Seyung alongside Goblin Spirits and a few Dire Wolf spirits.
’I wonder what would come out from this…’
There was no countdown or anything. He just had to wait until the process inside this Spirit Kodoku pocket was finished.