"Hey! Look over there at those two! Isn't that Sword Emperor Leo and the Witch of Necromancy? Why are they fighting those Blood-Eyed Howlers together? Don't tell me that they'd teamed up for the training course!"
A group of students happened to come across Leo and Nina fighting a group of Blood-Eyed Howlers, so they stopped to watch.
"Leo and Nina Wraith, huh? I heard the rumors the day before the training course started, but I didn't believe it."
"What an odd pair. Nina went solo for the last two years, right? What made her change her mind this year? And why have Leo as her partner?"
"Only they know. Unless you want to ask them."
"Nah, I'll pass."
"Whoa! Did you guys see that?! Leo decapitated that Blood-Eyed Howler with a single swing of his sword! I thought he was injured?!" The students were surprised to see his prowess that was the opposite of the rumors.
"How long has it been since he returned to the academy? About two months? That's more than enough time for someone to recover their injuries."
"It really depends on the type of injury he'd received in the first place."
The fight didn't last long, and once Leo killed the last Blood-Eyed Howler, the students watching them walked away.
"They're gone." Lilith said to Leo after seeing the students leave.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"I'm not really worried about them, but you can never be too careful." He nodded.
Over the next two days, Leo would encounter more and more students in their area, which made hunting monsters less efficient because there was more competition.
"Nina, we should look for a new spot. This place is crowded with students now. Compared to two days ago, our progression has slowed by nearly 50 percent!"
"I'm not surprised. This place is a hotspot because it's the closest to our city, and the monsters here are relatively weak compared to the other B-Rank monsters. We can move locations, but the next location that I know of is about 3 days away."
"That's fine. Let's go there and hope for the best— that it isn't going to be crowded. If we stay here, our progress will only continue to slow down." Leo said.
"I don't think many students know of that location since I stumbled upon it by accident last year. The monsters there are also quite troublesome— enough to deter most people from going there."
"Hey, hey… It sounds like a very dangerous place… Are you sure this place is worth it?"
She nodded, "The place is crawling with monsters because not many people go there, so we'll be able to farm a bunch of points. The monsters there are quite powerful, but we should be able to handle them without any problems, especially considering that you can kill monsters like the Berserker Boar in a single hit."
"Alright, let's go to this place then." Leo agreed.
After taking out their hoverboards, Leo followed Nina to a new location to farm monsters.
However, Nina suddenly stopped moving after traveling for two hours.
"What's wrong?" Leo asked her.
"There's a monster nest nearby," she said.
"How can you tell? I don't see anything."
"There's a massive mana disturbance in that direction. That only happens when there is a monster nearby." Nina pointed west.
Leo raised his eyebrows when he couldn't see anything, "I don't see any mana disturbance, though?"
"That's normal. The mana disturbance is so powerful that only people with Spiritual Eyes like me can see it," she said.
"I see… Do you want to go take a look? We'll get a lot of points there, right?"
She nodded and said, "Yes, monster nests are always swarming with a large quantity of monsters, so we'll be able to acquire a lot of points if we go there. However, it's a little dangerous, considering that it's just the two of us."
"Don't you have your summons?" Leo then asked.
"Even if I use all of my summons, it's going to be tough. Depending on the size of its nest, there can be thousands of monsters there."
"Thousands…" Leo swallowed nervously.
"But it wouldn't hurt if we take a look at the place first. We can decide whether we want to invade it after we scout the place."
"That's a good idea." Leo nodded.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmThey changed directions and approached the mana disturbance.
After traveling for about fifteen minutes, Leo could suddenly see a small mountain appear in the distance.
'Is that the monster nest?' he wondered.
"Let's walk from here so that we don't alert the monsters." Nina said to him as they got closer.
"Alright."
After putting away their hoverboards, they approached the mountains with quiet and gentle steps.
"I'm going to scout ahead for you." Lilith said before flying ahead.
As they got closer to the mountain, they could see several human-like figures pacing around the mountain.
Nina's eyes widened after seeing the monsters' appearance.
"Those are goblins! This monster nest is probably home to a goblin army! But what are goblins doing here? They're usually in another location…" Nina muttered after seeing these green-skinned monsters.
"Goblins? I fought them before. Aren't they only D-Rank monsters?" Leo asked.
"You're probably thinking about Forest Goblins. These are not Forest Goblins. Look at their height and bulky physique. They're Goblin Warriors, fierce B-Rank monsters that usually travel in large groups, and I think I see a Goblin Caster amongst that group. They are even more annoying than the Goblin Warriors because they usually spam magic spells from the backlines while the warriors protect them."
"Just like how we fought the Blood-Eyed Howlers, huh? This is indeed going to be annoying." Leo mumbled.
"What do you want to do, Leo? Do you want to attack them, or should we just ignore them? I will agree with you no matter your decision." Nina turned to look at him with a solemn expression on her face.
Leo didn't immediately respond. He pondered— waited to see if the Magic System would give him a Special Quest.