Chapter 278: Final Quest I

In a foggy swamp...

Three figures could be seen moving through the terrain carefully.

The figure at the front had a huge build, standing at around three meters tall.

His muscular body emitted a rich aura that was full of vitality.

Anyone near him would feel like they were in the face of a strong warrior, who was ready to give his life to battle.

He had a head full of red hair, his ears were quite sharp, but not elongated enough like that of the elves.

Furthermore, his eyes were filled to the brim with cautiousness.

With his wary gaze, the figure made sure to scout every corner of the area, making sure that there would be no monsters lurking to ambush them.

The figure behind him was a lot smaller in comparison.

Holding a crystal ball that could enhance magic spells, alongside serving as a medium for mana in her hand, she followed closely to the towering figure before her.

Her long, white hair was tied into a bun to make sure that it would not be stained by the muddy water of the swamp.

However, the two fluffy white fox tails on her back were not saved from getting dirty.

Despite this, her face showed no signs of disgust.

Her pale-orange eyes seemed as if nothing could faze her, as her calm demeanor made it look like she was merely a spectator in this situation.

Finally, the last figure had flowing black hair tied into a ponytail.

Her face had a calm and cautious expression, her pitch-black eyes scanning the surroundings to ensure that they would not be ambushed from behind.

On her waist were two sheathed black daggers that blended in with her attire, making it hard to see.

"Do you see the cave entrance, Raxon?"

The figure in the rear asked with her voice in a whisper.

"Not yet, Ms. Marzana."

The figure in the front, Raxon, answered with a low voice as well.

"I told you to just call me leader whenever we’re on a quest..."

"I’m sorry, Leader." Raxon scratched the side of his cheek.

Clearly, he still felt pressure about going on his first quest.

’This is very different from training...’

Raxon felt nervous inwardly, but kept the stoic expression on his face.

Despite being over three meters tall and having a bulky body, he innately had a timid nature.

In short terms, he was what you would consider a "gentle giant".

Marzana did not respond and instead asked the figure in between them, "Do you sense anything strange, Aeola?"

"Negative, Leader."

The figure between Raxon and Marzana, Aeola, replied as she kept high alert.

Even her white fox ears stood still, along with her two tails that made no movements.

Despite their calm expressions, the three figures had hints of being nervous upon closer observation.

This was understandable.

After all, this quest was their very first one as a party.

In the three months’ time that they had, the latter part was dedicated to them doing simulated training that would heighten the chances of them surviving in the wild.

This, of course, included survival training and the like.

In addition to their rigorous training, they each had a storage pouch with increased space filled to the brim with essentials.

Therefore, the chances that they would starve in the wild or suffer in places that would affect their combat capability had been drastically decreased.

Moreover, Marzana and the others were feeling extra pressure, not only because this was their first party quest.

In fact, before forming a party, the members would need to at least complete a few individual quests.

However, with Regis and Aurum pulling some strings, they were able to form Equilla without having any prior completion of individual quests.

Furthermore, before being included in the eligible parties for the establishment of the organization, they would first need to accomplish some quests until they acquired enough merit.

But in a prior meeting, Regis had once asked the three of them if they would be willing to accelerate this process.

Of course, despite Regis and Aurum’s connections, they would not be able to exempt Equilla from this step.

However, they were able to make it so that they would only need to finish one quest, provided that it would be one of the hardest ones applicable to their realms.

Therefore, not only were the three nervous about this being their first quest, but also due to its dangers.

Currently, they had been going through this swamp for nearly half an hour already, yet no monsters and creatures were in sight.

’Strange...’

Marzana’s brows slightly furrowed, thinking of the information about their quest.

Their current quest was something that the Harmonia City Council had put up.

It was to investigate the sudden disappearance of creatures within the area.

There could be various causes for this, such as natural artifacts with deathly energy forming, some kind of monster mutation, and the like.

However, if this were the case, there would be an obvious aftermath within the swamp.

The aftermath could be corpses or even some damage to the terrain.

But the strangest thing was the fact that, despite the lack of any monsters, animals— creatures in general, the terrain and flora in the surroundings were not damaged even a little bit.

In fact, if it were not for the lack of manpower in Harmonia due to the various battlegrounds and forbidden zones, they would have preferred to send their own force to investigate.

’I can’t tell whether us doing this quest is us being lucky or not...’

A smirk crept up on Marzana’s face at this thought.

’According to the information given to us, there’s a high chance that these phenomena might be related to demons.’

That was right.

The sudden disappearance of creatures without damage to the terrain was a normal occurrence in events involving demons.

Even while lacking manpower, the Harmonia City Council— being the satellite city of Ligera— still had means to, at the very least, speculate and form hypotheses about the situation with all the resources available to them.