Science/Magic

Eventually, Regina agreed to lend some of her clothes to Liu Ying, although her unwillingness was evident in her gaze.

When Liu Ying put on the clothes, she frowned.

"They are rather tight. Mainly in the chest."

Bloed was not sure if he imagined the killing intent coming from Regina.

Liu Ying was just 15 years old, but her body was already rather developed. Although her height was not different from Regina, her bust and butt were much more noticeable.

As for Regina… Well, petite was the best description of her appearance.

In all the senses of the word.

Until now, Liu Ying had been used a coat and the clothes Bloed had found her with. Bloed had asked Regina to repair the clothes so Liu Ying could continue using them.

Those clothes were rather loose, so her curvaceous body was not very apparent. But now that she wore Regina's tight-fitting clothes…

Bloed decided that it was better not to compare. He could feel Regina's killing intent slowly encroaching him, as though waiting for him to say something.

"… Bloed, don't you think these clothes are too tight? I feel like they are squeezing my chest." Liu Ying looked at Bloed and asked.

"Demon, what are you insinuating!" Regina clenched her teeth.

"Huh?" Liu Ying was startled, but she then looked at Regina's body and smirked. "I see. I understand why the clothes are so tight."

Regina's gaze turned frigid. "Master, can I kill this woman?"

Bloed just decided to ignore their conversation.

The journey in Leto was pretty peaceful for a while, but Leto's recently recovered energy was mostly used up after the two breath attacks.

So, less than ten minutes later, the group was walking in the swamp again.

"What are we going to do if we meet the demonic trees again, Bloed?" Liu Ying asked. Even now, they were surrounded completely by trees. Liu Ying shuddered in fear when she thought that many of these trees could be monsters in disguise.

But contrary to Liu Ying's worry, Bloed was rather relaxed.

"Actually, it's rather easy to identify the demonic trees… Let's call them treants. There is an easy method to discover them."

"Huh?"

Bloed smirked. "Regina, will you make the honors?"

Regina nodded. She created a blade of energy on her hands and used it to slash the tree beside her.

The tree was cut into two and fell to the swamp.

"… That is it?" Liu Ying looked at Regina in confusion. Regina stared at her as though she was an idiot and did not bother to answer.

Bloed smiled wryly and explained. "Treants disguise themselves like trees to ambush their prey, so we just need to cut the trees in our path to know if it's a tree or a treant."

Liu Ying furrowed her eyes in thought. "But what are we going to do if we find a group of treants? Maybe after you discover and kill a treant, the others nearby will attack."

Bloed nodded. "Yes, but by then, we will have an escape route."

Liu Ying instantly understood.

The treants were very slow. Actually, Bloed and the others would have been able to escape easily if not that they have been surrounded with branch-like spears attacking them from all directions.

But with Bloed's method, they could guarantee that at least a direction did not have treants. In other words, they could escape easily.

After explaining the method to Liu Ying, the three of them took turns to destroy the trees on their way. Doing so slowed their speed considerably, but it was clearly useful.

The group was able to find treants' ambushes several times thanks to it. And as Bloed expected, they escaped easily each time.

However, treants were not the only risk the group faced.

Not long after they fought the group of treants, the group was ambushed by a C-Grade crocodile. This time, though, Bloed had detected it beforehand with his thermal vision.

But such as Bloed suspected, his thermal vision was less useful than he expected.

Some monsters had the ability to hide their thermal and energy signatures. One of them, a B-Grade serpent, almost swallowed Liu Ying whole after an ambush.

Fortunately, Bloed and Regina reacted quickly and killed it before it could truly hurt Liu Ying.

Moreover, some monsters used magic. Such monsters were much harder to fight. Even a C-Grade bird that could use magic was more troublesome than the B-Grade monsters in the monster horde.

But due to it, Bloed soon realized something.

"… Regina, Liu Ying, have you not noticed?"

"Huh?"

The two girls looked at Bloed with looks of confusion.

Bloed put on a pensive expression and looked at the corpse they just killed. It was a B-Grade crocodile that was killed after Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying joined hands in a difficult battle.

"… Don't you think that the monsters in the swamp are stronger than the monsters in the horde?"

The girls were startled. Regina furrowed her brows and thought about it.

"Master, do you think that there is a problem with the monsters in the swamp?"

Bloed thought for a moment before shaking his head.

"No, the problem is with the monsters in the horde."

"Huh?"

Liu Ying and Regina were surprised.

Bloed nodded. "Yes, thinking about it, none of those monsters used magic, despite there being thousands of them. Don't you think it's weird? Even their strength was weaker. The B-Grade monsters in the monster horde felt as though the C-Grade monsters here."

"What does that mean?" Liu Ying asked.

Bloed shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe the monster controlling the horde needs to pay a price to control the monsters. Probably, the mind control makes the monsters weaker… Hmm, I'm curious about the method used to control the monsters."

"Do you want to investigate it, master?"

Bloed smiled wryly and shook his head. "It's not necessary. We are going to leave the exiled lands soon, so we will probably never meet that monster again."

Liu Ying wrinkled her brows. "But Bloed, and if that monster controls the horde to attack outside the exiled lands?"

Bloed fell silent for a moment before replying with a shrug.

"Well, that has nothing to do with me."

Bloed and Regina continued walking.

As for Liu Ying, she stood frozen in her spot, surprised by Bloed's words.

...

Guys, I have already 10 extra chapters in my P4TRE0N. Go and check if you are interested...

P4TRE0N: patre-on.com/aidnovels