Seeing Laisaâs enthusiastic look, Meredith wanted to say something, but her red lips hesitated for a moment, and she looked at Raine.
Raine naturally understood Meredithâs concerns, but after thinking it over, he nodded to Laisa and said, "Alright then, but only once. If you encounter danger and canât handle it, just stay behind honestly."
"Donât worry, scouting is a piece of cake, leave it to me!" Laisa confidently patted her slightly elevated chest and said.
Half an hour later.
"Be careful!"
A thumb-thick, dark gray tentacle suddenly protruded from the muddy swamp, wrapping around Laisaâs ankle in an instant.
Next, the lightweight Laisa was dragged horizontally for several meters, but in the next moment, a strong, dark gray metallic-glossed hand tightly grasped the slippery tentacle with a snap.
"Sizzle~"
With a sound like rubber being squeezed, a several-meter-long cylindrical dark red giant worm was forcibly pulled out of the swamp mud by Raine.
As a dark gray light flashed, the writhing giant worm was sliced in half, with Meredith being the one who struck.
"This is a swamp corpse worm, this one should be a mutation."
"Itâs not my fault; Meredith also said itâs a mutation. Moreover, I just didnât use the floating bootsâ special effect; otherwise, it definitely wouldnât have sensed me." Laisa tried to explain.
"This is already the second time," Raine said blandly, "just stay behind honestly."
"Meredith, itâs up to you to lead the way now."
"Yes." Meredith nodded.
This made Laisa lower her head, feeling sullen and unhappy.
Beside her, Ryu Teng covered his mouth, chuckled softly, and stepped forward to hold Laisaâs arm comfortingly.
With Meredith taking over as the squadâs scout, the entire teamâs marching speed increased by more than fifty percent.
Partly because Meredith was familiar with this terrain, and partly because, as a Level 10 Classes Sword Dancer, handling some unobservant swamp creaturesâ sneak attacks was easy.
No need for Raine to act, nor for the Krit Squad to cast magic attacks; they were swiftly resolved.
Two hours later.
Suddenly, Meredith, who was scouting ahead, stopped, crossing her two curved swords in front, facing the left front, and said, "Whoâs there?"
"Oh? You could actually spot me?"
With a slightly surprised voice, a middle-aged man in dark gray leather armor, holding two daggers, revealed himself at the left front of Raineâs team.
His eyes were particularly bright and lively, but there was a faint arrogance. Judging from the aura emitted, his strength was about Level 7 Classes.
After taking a couple of steps and seeing Meredith, the manâs expression turned solemn, seemingly surprised by Meredithâs Classes Level, and his attitude improved as he said:
"Which Bronze Level Adventurer Squad are you from?"
"You must have come down from the Morrison Ancient Tunnel, right? Didnât the soldiers there tell you? This Dusty Swamp is already closed off?"
Upon hearing this, Laisa couldnât help but put her hands on her hips and said, "Dusty Swamp is so big; how can you seal it off?"
"Oh? Youâre only Level 4 Classes?" The stranger Wanderer seemed surprised by the significant Classes Level difference between Laisa and Meredith.
"Itâs no use telling me; itâs what the higher-ups decided."
"If I let you through, and General Kobataen mistakes you for spies, youâll be in trouble."
"Although your strength looks quite decent," the stranger Wanderer tossed his dagger and glanced at Laisa with a smirk.
Hearing this, Laisa was instantly annoyed, while Meredith and the others looked at Raine.
This surprised the stranger Wanderer, who also turned his gaze towards Raine.
Raine thought for a moment, did not force his way through, but signaled to Meredith, and the group turned to head back.
At this moment, the stranger Wanderer breathed a sigh of relief, took out a Communication Crystal Stone and quickly said, "The intruders have left."
....
A quarter of an hour later, Raineâs group halted again.
"Meredith, if we go around this area, how much longer will it take?"
"It may take half a day longer; I know of a secret path here we can take." Meredith thought carefully and replied.
"Raine, do we really have to swallow this?"
For Laisaâs resentment, Keller Krit advised, "Miss Laisa, if I wasnât mistaken, the badge on his chest indicates that he belongs to the Urein Empireâs famous Silver Adventurer Group âBlazing Wings.â
"Additionally, with the general he just mentioned, I suspect they have a mission related to a black dragon."
Hearing Kellerâs analysis, Raine couldnât help nodding, this was also his concern.
If it were just him and Meredith, it would be fine; quickly breaking through or even killing the opponent wouldnât be an issue.
But the Krit Squad is too distinctive; five flame mages, such a team configuration must be extremely rare in the Urein Empire.
And in Soladin Kingdom, itâs one of a kind.
The other side would quickly be able to trace the origins of the Krit Squad.
Given itâs just a half-day detour, avoiding would be okay.