Chương 423: Chapter 396. Is It Voyeuristic To Watch Someone Walk By?

After walking through the field for around 30 minutes, we had made our way to the forest. After around 15 minutes of walking in the forest, Jaime was finally able to sense something to help us actually get to where we need to go." Are you sure it's to the East?" Lucy asked Jaime to make sure we were heading into the right place. Jaime answered with a somewhat difficult expression on her face."

I'm pretty sure, they're hiding their mana and presence, but I definitely felt something "off" coming from the East of us."" Off?"" Yes, off... It's like something familiar, but different... I don't know how to explain it. It's just strange."" She's not lying, something's strange about the area to our East. We need to be careful, it could mean that they've laid down some kind of Magic Traps, like that Dungeon in the forest to the West of Frail Maiden." Laura backed up Jaime's suspicions.

She even brought up a Dungeon we spent some time conquering a few months ago, that's where I won the greaves I've been wearing for this trip. I won the gauntlets I've been wearing from a different Dungeon, all together, they multiply my speed, strength and reflexes by around 8x their normal amount. I'd say they've served me well. They even match colors since they're both a deep and dark-lapis lazuli blue! They bring a smile to my face every time I notice I'm wearing them throughout the day.

But now's not the time to start gushing about my fashion choices. We need to keep our concentration up after all. Since we don't really know what we're heading towards! Speaking of which." If that's the case, we know what we need to do, don't we? Let's see this all the way through!" I simply stated what we had to do and it seems like it helped out... I think?" Haa... Well, Ash isn't wrong.

Laura, Jaime, keep an eye out behind us as we walk forward, no need to take any chances, I'll keep my Trap Detection Skill active for anything we might run into."" Will do."" Got it." Lucy, after sighing at what I had to say, gave a suggestion for Laura and Jaime as we began to move towards the Eastern side of this forest like Jaime said we should. We walked for a bit, without much of a change in scenery, green trees that were slowly turning red from the change in seasons.

Some weeds and fruit trees were also around. Bushes were a constant part of the traversal as well. They're the perfect place to set a trap for people like us. Thankfully, because we have a Thief in our group, we don't need to worry about something like that! Lucy happily informed us as we walked that she couldn't sense any kind of traps anywhere. It made what would be a tense walk into enemy territory for us, something more like a nature hike instead. It was actually pretty enjoyable for me...

Until we found the first hint of what we were looking for." stop..." Lucy whispered her command, we all listened. We all stayed vigilant as Lucy began to investigate a specific spot on the ground, it was a patch of dirt that was somewhat lighter than the dirt around it. Lucy took a look at it and activated one of her Skills, her eyes changed from their brown color to a dark-black, like looking into a black hole." It's a trap. It's a piece of paper with some kind of marking on it. Hang on..." / poof...

/ While she was examining the trap, a piece of paper and a pencil appeared in her hands. From what Lucy told us, it's actually her Skill called "Custom Map". Lucy said that she can do as she pleases with the paper, so it's not just restricted to making a map. Which is why she was currently copying the sign that was on the trap. When we asked how she keeps track of all of her maps, she said it's more or less like tabs on a computer. She can keep them there for as long as she wants.

Once she was done, she handed the paper to Jaime." Hmm... I see... It's a Thunder Spell. It'll kill whatever steps onto it, and whatever it doesn't kill, it'll paralyze it for a while."" Not a bad trap... Lucy, can you sense anymore of them?" Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Laura asked Lucy a question after Jaime informed us about what we were dealing with. Lucy quickly got to looking around. I was keeping watch to make sure nobody sneaked up on us." Hmm...

Yes, there's more... There're a bunch scattered all around us... But... It looks like the highest concentration of them is to the North..."" That's probably where the camp is, right?" I quickly said the first thing that came to mind. It looks like it took everyone a moment to think about what I said, I wondered why? I mean, it makes the most sense that you would protect the place you'll be at, more than the surrounding area, right?" She's right, here's what we'll do.

We need to switch Ashley and I's position, I'll use my Skills to get us there unnoticed. Once we're there, we'll watch for the moment to strike, we have the element of surprise, we should use it, right?" Everyone seemed to agree with Lucy's idea. With that, we quickly got into our new formation and followed Lucy's every move. With lots of zigging and zagging around the terrain, eventually, we made the progress we were all hoping for.

And after getting through most of the traps, I was taken by surprise and it came from a whisper in front of me again." get down... now!..." drop... Lucy's command was followed to the letter. How couldn't we follow it when the urgency in her voice made my blood run cold. It was only after we all had ducked or hid behind bushes or trees that we realized why she told us what to do. / Step. Step. Step. / Quiet, powerful steps made their way closer and closer to us.

We all held our breath, hoping that whatever was walking by us left quickly. My heartbeat hastened as we heard the footsteps stop in front of us. From there, a somewhat sultry voice began to speak. I could tell from the voice that the person was a woman, she began to speak to whoever she was with." See? I told you that you're worrying too much.

Gabble is taking all of the human's attention as he attacks with his forces, we just need to stick to the plan, no humans are going to make their way here, while that tiny village is at risk of being destroyed by us."" No, Magda, you don't understand, to make this work, we need to keep Hershel safe as he does what he's doing. Checking the perimeter is imperative to doing that." The woman was refuted by a man's voice. His voice was deep and serious. It sounded like whatever he was doing, it was important to him."

Oh? Is that so, Sarn? You didn't drag me out here to be alone with me?" / Step. /" H-Hey! Stop! Now is not the time for this!"" Oh, come on! Hershel is being watched over by Frun, we'll be fine if we mess around. What happened to all that vigor before the battle? Or did I tire you out?"" No... It's just that we shouldn't be doing this On Duty near enemies. We can have all the sex we want after we finish the job. It shouldn't take long. The humans are no doubt cracking.

I heard that Gabble sent a group of his men to crush the human's defensive line. It should be even easier with Hershel sending that Spell of his to them. Everything is on our side."" Well then, shouldn't we be able to mess around a little?"" No... After... I'll make it worth the wait."" Oh, ho ho! Now you have me curious! What are you thinking about in that head of yours?"" You'll just need to wait and find out. For now, let's finish up, we're nearly back at camp anyways."" Fine... But can we at least hold hands?"

KISS!" Of course we can." / Step. Step. Step. / Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the figures walked away... Well, I say "figures", but in reality, it was obviously 2 of the Demons we'll be fighting soon. But... I don't think that them being so close was the issue for us now... Looking at everyone's faces, it was easy to see what we all were thinking..." She was so... Shameless..." Lucy muttered the word everyone was thinking about." Is that what Demon women are like?"

I quickly brought up the question in my mind." Is that why the Paladin was defending Diablos? That girl we fought... She said he was her Fiancée, right?" Jaime brought up the next thought in her head... That's right... The Demon did mention that at one point..." I don't know... All I can say for sure is that... If it is the case... What a loser he must be if all it took was a Demon woman offering sex to make him betray his fellow Humans like that." Lucy spoke up next.

Seems she had the same thought that we were having." No... I don't think that's the case..."" What do you mean, Laura?"" Well... Lucy... What I mean is... That woman... Even though it vexes me, I know that she wasn't using her body to get that Paladin to fight... She Loved the guy."" How can you be so sure?" I brought up another question to Laura. She seemed so sure about it after all. Laura looked away from us with a hint of irritation. After a moment, she began to answer me." Well... It's because...

The way she talked about him... The tone of her voice... It sounded just like how I speak about John to me. I don't know about the Paladin, but at the very least, that woman Loved that man... I almost feel bad knowing we're going to have to kill them to get back to the people we Love... Back to John..." With Laura finishing her answer to my question, we all took a moment to breath... It was after that, Laura quickly stated what we needed to do next." Those Demons said they were close to their camp.

Let's follow behind them and get this over with. Let's keep the same formation, Jaime, keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Lucy, Ash, we're all going to be responsible for protecting us from any threats that come our way. Be prepared, this is going to be a fight to the death. Let's get to it."" Right." Laura gave out orders that made sense. It didn't take long for all of us to begin following those Demons. It took even less time to make it to the camp that the Demons were referring to.

Being prepared for what we saw however, was a different thing entirely.