Strength 99999 but the Holy Sister

It wasn't that she couldn't ride at all, but she certainly wasn't proficient. After all, riding wasn't a skill Elsa needed to master; she could run much faster than a horse. While still living in the church monastery in Weilin Town, Elsa spent more time familiarizing herself with and controlling her ever-increasing power—after that, Elsa simply stopped riding a horse.

So Aisha rode with Moira, a student of Bethel.

Feeling Elsa's body temperature coming from behind made Moira very nervous, but it wouldn't be too difficult for her to just take Elsa with her.

……

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118. The corpse of the black monster

Elsa had never seen a dragon before. The only thing she had come into contact with that was dragon-related was the dragon blood that she accidentally took from the vampires the day before.

The dragon blood provided Elsa with 10 free attribute points, and then it lost its effect.

According to the descriptions of dragons by humans in this world, the strength of an average adult dragon far exceeds that of a gold medal adventurer. Although it is not as strong as a demon general, the power of a dragon is still more than enough to destroy a small city - and there are many such dragons in the Dragon Canyon.

The demons who almost dominated the continent back then were unwilling to conflict with the dragon clan, which shows the deterrent power of the dragons on this continent.

Of course, the strength of individual dragons varies greatly, so it cannot be generalized - but in short, Elsa had no intention of bypassing the so-called dragon habitat west of the central lake. She not only wanted to ask the dragon how much it knew about those black monsters, but also wanted to get some more dragon blood.

However, for now, we should start the investigation from the "sighting site" in the shallow forest area. Steady and cautious progress is Elsa's style. Blindly diving into the forest is not a good habit.

Soon, the group arrived at the outskirts of the forest.

"This is where the first reports of black monster attacks came from. Since then, we've received numerous sightings of black monsters. If we investigate, we might find some results starting here. However... we haven't encountered any monsters migrating from the forest along the way, so that's probably not good news."

Beremut said, looking into the distance with worry.

This is where the southeast corner of the Great Western Forest meets the plains. It is a beautiful place with sparse trees and a wide view - but now there is no sound of birds or animals here, only the breeze in the wilderness brings a slight sound, and the forest ahead is unusually silent.

"Some time ago, more and more monsters appeared on the plains. They originally lived in the forest, but as the number of black monsters increased, some of them were assimilated, and the rest fled—some even fled to the plains. But we didn't see any new monsters escaping from the forest along the way, which means that the forest is now completely occupied by the black monsters' nests."

In other words, most of the huge number of monsters originally in the forest have probably been assimilated into black monsters. Just thinking about the countless number of monsters in the forest, Bramuth couldn't help but feel his scalp tingling, and most of the adventurers also had very solemn expressions.

In contrast, Ryan, Marvin and the other magicians didn't show any change in expression. They were all people who had seen Elsa fight the demon general. Even if there were more black monsters, they could never be as shocking as the "miracle" of the flattened Rhedes Mountains.

"Then let's stop here. We'll be heading into the forest next."

Aisha said, dismounting.

You can't ride a horse in the forest, and it's not safe. It's the adventurer's rule to observe carefully before moving forward to avoid falling into a monster's trap. Riding a horse recklessly in such a dark forest is not a good habit - Elsa doesn't care, but there are other people here. Even if Elsa thinks she can protect them, she still has to be prepared for any eventuality.

The escorts from the town hall returned to the town on horseback, while Elsa and the others walked into the forest.

"Lian, Marvin, have you ever seen a dragon?"

Aisha put the black heavy sword on her back and asked - Kus and others were stunned.

Ryan recalled: "I once saw a giant dragon flying from a distance - to be honest, just looking at its huge body would make me feel suffocated."

Marvin also shook his head. "Giant dragons rarely enter human territory, or rather, they just pass through without staying. That's why I've never seen a living dragon."

"living?"

"Well, the Empire once sent troops to fight a giant dragon because it destroyed a town in the Southern Province. I had the good fortune to see its corpse once when it was being transported through our area. Dragons like that are most likely exiled by their tribes. Killing them won't incur the dragon's wrath, and their corpses are excellent magical materials."

"Exiled?"

"Yes, this situation does happen occasionally. Dragons have their own internal rules, and this is a very serious matter for dragons. Dragons don't like to kill their own kind, so they will exile them. It is said that only dragons with a history of bad deeds will suffer this treatment. These exiled dragons will find their next suitable habitat, and in the process, they often clash with the races in the areas they pass through, especially the areas where we humans live. For dragons, our human kingdoms are too numerous and too large. The area surrounding the Dragon Canyon is full of human kingdoms. No, it should be said that the entire eastern continent beneath our feet is almost human territory. Although they appear to be exiled, they actually have nowhere to go. Even their every move may trigger a large-scale beast tide. Therefore, the exiled dragons are actually very sad. They can either bow their heads and sign a contract with the human kingdom to live in peace and settle down, or they can only cross the sea to another place. Otherwise, they may cause great damage in any area they settle in."

Elsa frowned slightly. "Those dragons... exiled their own kind and left them there, even if it brought trouble to other species?"

This is too perfunctory - no, it is a kind of condescending arrogance.

That's a dragon. Even Elsa knows that a dragon's power is devastating to other races. Dragons themselves are no more foolish than any other creature. They know exactly what they're doing and can consider the consequences. Is this a symbol of order within the dragon race, or just a disguised way of promoting their power?

Marvin sighed.

"Perhaps it's troublesome, but at the same time, this is something we've tacitly agreed to. For humans, killing a dragon gives them their corpse, which is a strategically valuable magical ingredient. Dragons are arrogant, and we humans are greedy. This is also a tacit understanding..."

Marvin didn't finish his words.

He had made it clear: a mutually agreed-upon contract had been reached between "humans" and "dragons." The price and transaction for the dragons was a banished kin, and for the humans, a few unfortunate citizens—this was "acceptable" to both sides. And both dragons and humans viewed this as a "tactic." Ultimately, in a dragon-induced disaster, it was hard to say who initiated the attack.

"Tsk..."

Elsa was shocked, lowered her eyes and stopped talking.

Marvin silently watched Elsa's expression and said nothing more - he didn't say these things for no reason, and he felt a little guilty towards Elsa because of this.

At this time, the voices of adventurers were heard from the front.

"There are some black monster corpses over here!"

Someone called out.

Elsa sighed lightly and walked over immediately. As soon as she reached behind the woods, she smelled the unique fishy smell of the black monster.

"It seems that we don't need to do anything anymore,"

The person who spoke was Bramuth. He came to the monster's body and turned it over with his sword, then squatted down to take a rough look. The monster's body looked like it had not been dead for long. There were no scars on the body and no signs of fighting nearby. It seemed that it was moving in a certain direction before death.

"They don't look like they've decayed yet. They probably died yesterday."

He withdrew his gaze from the monster's corpse and looked at Aisha.

It was obvious that these monsters were most likely killed indirectly because Elsa killed the filth that controlled them yesterday. Thinking of the scenes of Elsa fighting yesterday, Bramuth was very emotional.

Bramuth had fought against the Filthy Ones before, and he knew how difficult they were to deal with, but all that seemed insignificant in front of Elsa.

Just how strong was Elsa? Brahmut only knew that she was much stronger than him, but he had no idea exactly how strong she was. He had privately asked the old priest about this, but he always shook his head.

Whether it was unspeakable or unknown, Brahmot was not sure.

……

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119. Spider's Lair

Elsa sniffed and found the air filled with the fishy smell of monsters. However, this smell was not the distorted magic element unique to the Filthy Ones. It was just the smell of an ordinary dead monster.

"There are no monsters around here."

Aisha said, which made the adventurers who were still looking through the corpses startle.

"Sir, are you saying that there are no black monsters here?"

"Well, there are no Defilers, no Black Monsters, not even any living normal monsters."

Elsa's tone was very firm. The adventurers looked at each other, hesitated for a moment, and then put down their work one after another.

They were just about to determine where these monsters lived in the forest by the types of monsters and the food residues in their stomachs, and use this to infer their routes of movement. Then, they would use the traces along the way to patrol the area with their familiars to look for clues, and then try their luck to see if they could find the black monster nearby.

But Elsa was absolutely certain that there were no monsters nearby, which made them feel a little embarrassed and puzzled. Some of them were adventurers who had gone out with Brahmot yesterday. They were deeply impressed by Elsa's terrifying strength and believed in her words without a doubt. But the others were those who stayed in the town to garrison. Although they also saw the unusual movements caused by Elsa's battle from afar and heard rumors about Elsa from their companions many times, they were not as shocked as when they felt it up close. Naturally, they were not so convinced of Elsa's words.

They were more puzzled by how Elsa had been able to determine with just one glance that the black monster they were looking for wasn't nearby. Could it be that these so-called "experienced" adventurers had missed some crucial clue? So, the truly experienced person must be this nun?

They fell into self-doubt.

Elsa noticed the hesitation and confusion in their expressions, but didn't say much. She couldn't explain to them one by one that she could smell the scent of magic elements and living things.

"Anyway, let's go a little further and see what happens—these few bodies can provide too few clues."

However, there were no black monsters or polluters, which was good news for the adventurers and made them feel relieved - at least, this forest was not full of those terrible black monsters as they had initially guessed.

At this time, Ryan and others also started their work. Some of these magicians were followed by familiars - different from Tricia's crow familiar, this kind of familiar was just a very basic familiar operating magic. The familiar had almost no combat ability and no wisdom. It was just a fragile magical creation used as a medium for the perception, detection and investigation of magic.

In addition to familiars, there are also some tools that are used for exploration, such as magic devices and magic stones.

Along with them were adventurers from Weilin Town. Kus was among them, chatting with Ryan and the others as they walked, occasionally pointing in a direction and leaving marks on the ground or tree trunks. These adventurers were indeed very familiar with the forest and knew the distribution of monsters within it like the back of their hand. After all, if they didn't, they would likely stray into the territory of some troublesome monster, which was very dangerous in the forest.

Under the guidance of the adventurers, everyone began to explore the territories of various monsters, but they did not gain anything until noon.

There was not much sunlight in the forest, and it was dim everywhere. Everyone came to the junction of the light forest outside the forest and the swamp area in the north. The terrain here was relatively flat, but very dark and damp. When they arrived at the destination, Elsa found that there were some cut white silks and some huge nets all around, which looked very tough, and there were piles of bones under the fallen leaves on the ground.

"This is the entrance to a cave, and we have dealt with it before."

Brahmot said.

"It was originally the lair of a giant spider-like monster. When we discovered they had transformed into black monsters, we tried to blow up the entrance."

He pointed to a cave entrance at the base of a huge tree, which was blocked by a large amount of rubble and soil. There were traces of destruction and fighting all around. It was obvious that Bramuth and his men had put a lot of effort into cleaning this place up.

Elsa sniffed, but couldn't feel anything. She glanced around again - Elsa could smell the faint scent of the black monster in the air, but it was very weak. She couldn't tell whether the scent was coming from somewhere else or seeping from the ground.

"I think there might be something to be gained here—I'm going to break through it and see what's underneath, is that okay?"

Aisha asked.

After all, these crude blockades were the fruits of the labor of Belemut and his men, so it would be better to obtain their consent before destroying them.

"Sure enough, there's something down there, right?"

Brahmot's expression became serious.

Elsa nodded.

"I can feel some breath."

So it's through the perception of breath? -- Aisha's words fell into Kus' ears, making him feel a touch of admiration, because breath perception is said to be a very advanced skill, unrelated to magic or martial arts, but a strange thing similar to "blessing".

Bramuth ignored Elsa's words and stepped forward, drawing his weapon.

"Then let me do it."

"No, I'll do it myself."

Since Elsa said so, Bramuth took a step back. At this time, Ryan, Marvin and others also moved away for a distance to avoid being affected. Many magicians behind Ryan showed anticipation and excitement, especially Moira - they had never seen Elsa take action at close range. Every time they saw Elsa's battle from a distance, and every time they would look forward to it in their hearts, but at the same time they would inevitably feel regretful. Now the best opportunity was before them, and they all opened their eyes wide for fear of missing anything.

However, at this time, Kus, one of the adventurers, spoke up: "Sister, with all due respect, I think it's best not to do such a dangerous thing..."

Kus stood up from his squatting position, slapping his feet on the ground covered with fallen leaves, making a rustling sound.

He continued, "There are a lot of monsters down there. Those spider-like monsters are huge and live in groups. Each one is agile and fast, and their venom is extremely deadly. There are at least one or two hundred of these monsters right now, and their nest is right under our feet. If we let them out, we might all be killed here."

……

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120. Little Bug

Some of the adventurers behind him also showed worried expressions, and obviously agreed with Kus's statement - there was nothing they could do about it. Yesterday, Kus and some adventurers did not follow Brahmut to fight the monster. They stayed in the small town to prevent accidents, so they did not witness Elsa's terrifying strength with their own eyes. They could only see a general idea from Weilin Town. Although they were shocked, they still had some concerns, which was understandable.

Although Kus's attitude was relatively polite, one could also read arrogance in his eyes. As a gold medal adventurer, it was normal for him to be a little arrogant, and what he said was indeed reasonable. It was better to say that this was the style of an adventurer - the adventurer's difficult-to-manage "casual" mentality was fully revealed at this time. If he were a soldier in the army, he would never speak out to refute his superiors at such a time.

"I'll leave this to Lady Faris. If you're afraid, please step back."

Bramuth's voice was serious and low, which immediately silenced the adventurers.

Seeing this, Kus didn't say much and stood with the adventurers.

Elsa didn't say anything. After seeing everyone retreat to a certain distance, she raised her hand and clenched it into a fist.

With one punch, everyone felt the ground shake violently, a circle of visible ripples instantly exploded in the air, and a sonic boom exploded like thunder - the layers of wave-like air waves distorted their vision. The next moment, gravel, wood chips and a large amount of soil were suddenly lifted up. Amidst a loud bang, the entrance to the cave had been crushed into a depression, revealing a large hole in the middle leading to the ground.

Dust rose up, and Elsa stood in front of the cave entrance, staring at the bottomless black hole, frowning slightly. Soon, everyone who had not yet recovered from the shock also felt a slight vibration from the ground.

Sharp roars, overlapping like waves, surged out from the depths of the dark cave. Then, the sound grew louder and louder, and came closer and closer. The vibrations underfoot became more and more rapid, and huge gray spiders appeared in everyone's sight.

"Tsk... this is troublesome..."

Kus stood with the adventurers. He had already drawn the dark silver armed sword from behind him and held it tightly in his hand while taking a few steps back.

At this moment, a giant spider rushed out of the cave and pounced on Elsa. The eyes on its head emitted a dark light, and its sharp black claws flashed with a metallic luster. The next second, its body suddenly caved in. In just a moment, milky white and black slurry burst out from the back of its body. At the same time, its body caved in, and a hole appeared that went through the front and back. A hurricane blew it away along with the poisonous slurry, and it landed in the distance with its limbs tucked in. It was still dead.

"Lady Faris is truly amazing!"

Moira admired secretly, while Kus on the other side froze in expression.

The next moment, there was another loud bang, and the entire cave was flattened in half. Kus stared blankly at the front - there were no trees there. All the trees in the entire area were cut in half, wood chips flew everywhere, and mud splashed everywhere. The deep dents were full of scattered monster corpses and poisonous liquid. Elsa stood alone in front of the cave entrance, lightly throwing punches one after another, but not a single monster escaped alive.

Rather than a battle, this scene looked more like the monsters running up one by one to die.

After a while, the number of monsters became sparse, and Aisha narrowed her eyes slightly.

"coming."

Suddenly, the originally dark cave collapsed, and then a humanoid creature as tall as three or four people lifted up the soil and rubble, and appeared in front of everyone with a shrill scream. The dark aura emanating from its body almost forced everyone to take a step back unconsciously. When Bramuth saw the black shadow, he immediately opened his eyes wide - compared with the filthy people he had seen before, this one was much larger and stronger. The gushing black air wave brought up mud and sand, making it almost impossible to open one's eyes.

"Lady Faris, please be careful! This guy is very unusual..."