Chapter 215: Commotion in the Association

Chapter 215

Commotion in the Association

As they conversed, unaware, a young woman silently listened. Ellie had never heard of this group, neither in the novel nor in her life as Ellie, but she felt a growing interest in the “Seven Night Poison” group.

Weren’t they talking about a group specializing in poison? They were studying poison? And...what did she need the most right now if not poison?

Her eyes gleamed as tiny spores began to root themselves in the bodies of the entire group to track them. Ellie hoped that one day she would visit the Rhea Kingdom because...it seemed like they mentioned Rhea earlier, didn’t they? Could their base be located in the Rhea Kingdom?

The little Apple had no idea what its master was planning, but its instincts warned it to stay cautious. Perhaps its eccentric master might lead it through danger to find even better food.

Well...even the Big Brother like Purple Mushroom was close to reaching level 4, and it only took a year. Then let alone itself, perhaps its master might be able to make it reach level 3 within 1 month!!

Ellie pondered her plan briefly. In fact, she wanted to deal with them now, but after reviewing their conversation, she noticed they mentioned “that thing.” Whatever it was, it had drawn them to this remote forest. She really wanted to know their true objective.

Meanwhile, as the Seven Night Poison group arrived, the so-called weak people of the Ares Kingdom were already on the move...

Someone had entered the territory controlled by the Ares Kingdom, particularly in the city where the only Hunter’s Association of Ares Kingdom was located. How could they not be tracked?

Unlike the Rhea Kingdom or other kingdoms, there was a reason Ares was known as the number 1 kingdom. While other kingdoms relied on the abilities of beasts, stratagems, potions, and other means, Ares primarily relied on their physical strength, with other means being secondary. Therefore, the strength of the people in the kingdom was not to be underestimated.

Tracking these people with beasts might fail since they used poison to obscure their trail. But Ares had human protectors, making their combat tactics quite versatile.

At the Hunter’s Association headquarters, the signal bell rang, causing the resting leaders to quickly get up. The bell in each leader’s bedroom was only rung in cases of real emergencies.

High-ranking clerks of the Hunter’s Association quickly gathered, some still in their pajamas due to the urgency. The staff were already there, with the association leader seated at his position. In less than 5 minutes, the association’s high-ranking members were assembled...

"What’s the matter? Speak," the association leader commanded in a deep voice. His authority emanated through his words, making everyone feel as if they were under his command.

"Sir, I apologize for summoning you like this. However, this is a truly significant matter."

"Mmm, speak. I will decide for myself if it’s truly significant." Hearing this, the head of the surveillance unit felt sweat trickling down his face. He knew that if this turned out to be a false alarm, he would be the one punished. But if he reported it too late and it was important, he would still be punished. This responsibility was indeed a perilous one!

"W-Well...my surveillance unit has detected unusual movements. They came from the Rhea Kingdom and entered our 1st-floor city on foot. Their name is “the Seven Night Poison,” a group known to be rising in power within Rhea currently."

"The Seven Night Poison group is renowned for using poison to kill both humans and beasts. It is said that the poisons they use are so potent that even high-level antidotes are sometimes ineffective. This has forced the royal family of Rhea to retreat, otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to bear the heavy losses."

Hearing this, the high-ranking leaders were greatly surprised. Although they had heard of the Seven Night Poison group before from intelligence reports about Rhea Kingdom, they never imagined this group would come to cause trouble in the Ares Kingdom as well.

"Damn it! Do they have no fear of us? Suddenly coming to cause trouble in Ares Kingdom—isn’t that practically a declaration of war?"

"They really entered without permission. Rhea Kingdom doesn’t know about this, right?"

"No, sir. It appears that Rhea is unaware of this. They came on their own," the head of the surveillance unit quickly explained. He had checked with Rhea Kingdom and found that they had no knowledge of the Seven Night Poison group entering Ares Kingdom. So, it seemed they had come independently.

"Tch! What are they here for? Looking for a fight?"

"Have you checked their intentions? What is their objective? And where are they now?" The association leader asked.

"Yes, sir. They are currently in the Fragrant Held Forest, but we still don’t know their exact purpose. However...it seems they have heard some strange rumors about something in our kingdom that can attract poisonous beasts. But it’s not certain if that’s their true objective."

"Hmm? Something that attracts poisonous beasts?" The leader pondered while the others also considered the situation. They felt that the arrival of the Seven Night Poison group was definitely not good. Previously, they had expanded their power by threatening Rhea Kingdom, so they were unlikely to negotiate peacefully.

"Keep a close watch on them. Find out what they want. I’ll inform the other high-ranking leaders. The arrival of foreign individuals requires the Emperor’s decision on how to proceed. If we act rashly, it could lead to a war between kingdoms."

Overnight, while the Seven Night Poison group remained unaware, the top leaders of the Ares Kingdom were informed of their arrival...

The next morning, Ellie had an appointment with the 4 students as usual. She avoided crossing paths with the Seven Night Poison group and waited for the 4 students at the designated spot as promised. For today, she had initially planned to tell the 4 students to return, but that morning, several hunters had entered the forest even though there hadn’t been many missions for gathering resources from the Fragrant Held Forest previously.

Ellie sensed the commotion within the kingdom earlier and recognized that this group of hunters had likely received a covert mission from the association. If she told the 4 students to leave, they would certainly question her for details. So, she chose to remain silent and followed the 4 students quietly.

After walking less than 1 kilometer, the bait effect drew numerous poisonous beasts towards them. It seemed that Emma’s magic aura was more effective than a 10-silver coin luring potion. As a result, Ellie had been busy since stepping into the forest, fighting off numerous beasts while feeding the little Blue Apple. However, her battles and the unusual behavior of the beasts had not gone unnoticed by some.

Previously, people avoided missions here because they had seen the strange behavior of the beasts—suddenly flying pass them for no apparent reason. Now, some realized what the beasts were targeting.

The four girls kept screaming continuously, but they didn’t flee, as if accustomed to such situations. The hunt went on for more than half an hour before Ellie’s true target appeared.

"Hello, young ladies," a deep voice called from behind. Ellie had just dealt with a swarm of List Bees and wiped away some sweat. The sweat was a result of her performance—swinging the chain knife didn’t actually deal with the bees, which were too small to hit accurately. Instead, she used spores to eliminate them while her knife movements were just a show.

The newcomer could only be the leader of the Seven Night Poison group. He had heard from his subordinates about the unusual behavior of the poisonous beasts and had followed it to the location of these five people. He had observed them for a while and deduced that the 4 girls and the thin young man, who seemed like he had eaten nothing, were indeed attracting the poisonous beasts.

While luring potions could attract poisonous beasts, they only brought the beasts close. Moreover...luring potions attracted all beasts, not just poisonous ones. This group’s movements were thus highly unusual!

"Ah. Wh-who are you?" Emma startled. She hadn’t noticed that a group of over 30 people had surrounded them. The girls quickly got up and hid behind Luke, including Nara.

Though she was interested in strong men, Nara also chose based on appearance and demeanor. It was clear that these newcomers were not good people; their attire made them look more like thieves—dirty and lowly. In contrast, Senior Luke, despite not showing wealth, had manners and poise that suggested he came from a good family, and he was very strong. The men Nara chose to be close to had to meet these standards.

Mirin, Emma, and Lucy felt the same. As previously mentioned, those who could attend the top institute were usually wealthy nobles. Seeing the demeanor of the 30 men before them, they felt repulsed and didn’t want to get close. Coupled with having relied on Luke for protection all this time, the 4 girls trusted him greatly.

"Senior Luke, please protect us. These people don’t seem to be good," Lucy whispered, feeling extremely frightened by the presence of over 30 people with clearly bad intentions.

"Haha! What’s that? We can hear you, little girl! How can you slander us, saying we don’t seem to be good?" The leader of the Seven Night Poison group rebuked openly. Despite his words, his face didn’t show anger but rather...a more cunning expression!

"I apologize on behalf of my friend, but with you surrounding us like this, how can we think well of you?" Mirin, calmer than the others, tried to reason with them. If these people weren’t truly evil, they would apologize and back off. Unfortunately, Mirin’s hope was swiftly crushed.

"Haha, true. I must apologize for scaring you. However...until I get your magical device, I can’t order my men to let you go. Haha." When the leader laughed, his subordinates laughed along, their raucous laughter further terrifying the 4 girls, making them tremble.

Ellie, on the other hand, didn’t feel these people posed any real threat to her. For those who were careless, she could simply snap her fingers and their internal organs would be destroyed. Why should she worry about people who could die at any moment?

She had let them live long enough to talk this much because she wanted to know their true intentions, just like the association members secretly observing from around them. She wanted to understand what motivated them to risk their lives coming to the Ares Kingdom!

"A-Are you, are you thieves?!" Emma was extremely shocked. They had made their intentions clear, essentially admitting they planned to rob them.

"Do you dare to rob students at the Ares Institute? Aren’t you afraid of death?"

"That’s right. I think you should reconsider. We are students from Ares Institute, and our families also...Ah!!! Ugh!!"

Before the 3 girls could say more, the thief leader, tired of their nonsense, suddenly threw a poison powder. The 4 girls felt as if someone was squeezing their noses, making it hard to breathe. Their faces turned a sickly green. Only Ellie remained calm, standing still, which greatly surprised the members of the Seven Night Poison group.

“Haha. Unbelievable that a small fry like you can protect yourself from my poison. But...you’re too careless.”

Without further ado, the Seven Night Poison group wasn’t worried about their prey dying. They only cared about getting the magical device from this group. Even if all 5 became corpses, they could still rummage through their belongings. Thus, there was no need to keep these people alive.

A few darts flew out, aiming to kill Ellie. She didn’t even look back; a slight body movement was enough to dodge the attack. In fact, the force of the shot sent darts towards the members of the Seven Night Poison group, but they were not foolish. It was as if they had fought many strong opponents before. Ellie’s evasion was within their expectations.

After dodging the darts from their comrades, they quickly threw a poison bomb in front, causing a cloud of dust to rise. Simultaneously, a large poison-coated sword appeared, aiming to slice her small body in half.

Ellie dodged and immediately drank a high-level antidote. She wasn’t afraid of fighting poison users because she had plenty of antidotes in her dimension. However, some poisons were challenging to handle. But Ellie wasn’t overly worried. She had asked a large number of spores to help absorb and decompose some of the dangerous poison. Additionally, the little Apple had grown to the size of a large rock, blocking the attacks from the front, allowing her to focus solely on the attacks from behind.

The little Apple had a strong body and wasn’t afraid of poison. After Ellie’s spores successfully destroyed some of the enemies’ internal organs, it flicked out its tongue and swallowed a human whole.

This fierce battle made the association members exchange glances. If they didn’t intervene now, they might never find out what the Seven Night Poison group was after, as these people might all end up dead!