It has been a week ever since then, and today, I have gathered with my friends once more. This time, I wanted to bring them to a special hunting quest that we had taken from the adventurer guild.
They all had gone hunting by themselves by now, either with their parents, protectors, or with me. Last week we had a small hunting session with Erika, Chris, and Eric, where I lend them all the kills they could find.
As of now they're more than capable of hunting Gray Wolves, Horned Rabbits, and even Shadow Crows without issues, and we even encountered a large herd of giant wild boars, which we hunted four of them. My level, thanks to the alchemy I've been doing in the background and also the boost granted by [Hard Worker] once more increased by one, reaching Level 9.
And of course, monsters. They had begun to multiply a lot these last months, and the forest has never been this lively before. Enormous herds of over fifty wild boars roam freely eating vegetation, gray wolves' packs had never been this large before, and horned rabbits had multiplied so much they have become a problem as they have begun to eat the crops of the villagers.
Hunting has become once more a big activity in the village to keep the monster population at bay, adventurers and hunters alike join together in large teams to go hunting almost daily, my father have joined a few of them too.
I have yet to truly figure out how did monsters multiply so fast in here, but I can guess that it might be because of the miasma left by the many demons dying, although they infected some areas near the swamp, miasma also made monsters multiply faster as it enhances their body growth and help them mature faster, meaning they can get more children faster too.
However, the previous issue had yet to be addressed, a rather faraway area of the forest had been infected with too much demonic miasma, making monsters mutate into Demonic Beasts. Adventurers had barely done much about it, and hunters are not strong enough to get there leisurely either.
Strong adventurers just go hunt at the grasslands and the others usually get better paid with less risks in the lowlands, so this "Miasmic Swamp" as it has been called has been left mostly alone, letting the mutated creatures in there mutate too much.
The guild master decided to give Eleanora, the most active adventurer so far, a special quest to go explore this area and find anything that might give a reason behind the monsters mutating so fast, which came with a good reward in Telis, which means we are going too. But it would be a waste if I didn't bring my friends to help them level up, so I decided to gather them into a party.
Elizabeth and Erdrich had also come but without the other annoying priests, as this was a rather major secret I didn't wanted anybody to know about.
And quite honestly, I also wanted to use this expedition to see their growth and interact more with everybody, as this last month and a half I've been doing too many things on my own.
"So is everybody ready?" I wondered, inspecting everyone.
We had all gathered early in the morning for this expedition, as it might take us an entire day or even more to complete it. I also didn't just wanted to explore the area and investigate, I wanted to eliminate as many Demonic Beast as I could find to destroy this threat from attacking the village. And well, to get as much EXP as I can. If there's some big boss monster there, that would be ideal.
"I am! Anytime, Blake! Let's have fun together!" Erika said with high spirits, she had her large sword sheathed and was even holding a small shield I had crafted for her in her left arm. She was also wearing some armor over her shoulders and chest for extra protection.
"I am a bit nervous… But I can't miss this opportunity to show off how much I've grown!" Chris said with a smile, he was wearing similar small armor equipment over his body, alongside a long staff with a red jewel on top, a magic weapon he bought with his savings, which enchants his fire magic power, he also uses it for combat as I trained him to use staffs as his main weapon.
They're all martial art techniques.
"Ugh… I shouldn't really go there but thinking about what sort of materials might be lying in that faraway place fills me with enough curiosity to join you guys…" Sighed Eric. "I'll keep myself in the back though…" Eric seemed slightly nervous, more than Chris.
His clothes were simpler, but chest and shoulder armor were a necessity, alongside that, he had a new bow his uncle and aunt bought for him, and a Spatial Inventory Bag I gifted to him to store his potions and other items.
"Anytime Blake! I'm as good as ready." Erdrich said, he was wearing a pair of knuckles made out of bones from the wyvern that Ellergest managed to get for himself, he commissioned a crafter from the village to make them for him as a gift for his birthday.
After I infected them with demon blood, those knuckles became deadlier and have greater strength, while being able to absorb blood from monsters to grow stronger and evolve. His clothes were the simplest and he only brought chest armor protecting where his heart is, anything else would get in the way of his half-demon transformation, which he has mastered quite a lot.
"Me too! I'll heal and protect you guys…! Let's purify this area so it doesn't become a big problem later." Elizabeth said, she had been worried about this swamp before I even told her about it. It appears the priests had discussed this but seemed reluctant to go investigate, as they're quite cowardly.
She wore the simplest clothes but chest and shoulder armor, alongside a golden staff her father gifted to her, and a tiara that enchants her magic power.
The entire party was more than ready to depart.
"Then let's go on our first adventure together, everyone." I said, leading everyone into the woods.