ALL NOVEL Chapter 248: Mission Start (1)
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「The last group is called Devouring Brigade. And as you might’ve guessed, they’re no ordinary bunch of mercenaries.」 The detective had explained the particularities of two of the three mercenary groups, and then quickly moved on to talk about Devouring Brigade.
They were mainly a group of spellcasters, and they mainly targeted undead beasts, which most other magic beast hunters tended to avoid. Undead beasts had a very specific trait, curses, which manifested as a multitude of negative status effects. In short, they specialized in debuffs.
「Those fighting such magic beasts will often need to undergo serious treatment afterward, and sometimes it takes a while for the symptoms of curses to manifest, making them rather nasty opponents. That’s why even groups dedicated to hunting magic monsters will often avoid those.」
That usually led to a lot of destruction whenever they appeared near a human settlement, so the reward for defeating undead beasts was triple that of regular ones, on top of inflation from the last few decades.
「That sounds rather enticing.」
Regular magic beasts would fetch a reward of at least twenty million Rils now, meaning that undead ones only went up from sixty million Rils. Nina and her sisters jumped a little when they heard that.
But obviously, that only went to show how dangerous those magic beasts were. For a while, the number of adventurers accepting requests to defeat them had increased, but over the years they had diminished again as casualties rose.
「While the reward is really high, the risk involved is really high too. There’s essentially only two types of people who would wager such odds nowadays, heroes or gamblers.」
Saying that, the detective looked at Mira for a while, before adding, 「In your case I guess you’d be the former.」Mira was well aware of how dangerous undead beasts could be, as she had struggled at fighting them many times in the past.
But that was in a past far away, and now Mira could effortlessly defeat lower level undead beasts, which the detective mentioned were enough to earn sixty million Rils. Her mind was quickly fixating on that sum, and that reaction did not escape the detective.
「Hm? I wonder what you mean.」 While she played dumb, she was already dreaming of her possible fortunes.
If she got Mariana to renew her Fairy’s Divine Protection, she would become immune to status ailments, taking the biggest danger posed by undead beasts away, and turning them into much weaker monsters. By then, she would have an easy time defeating them.
She could not stop dreaming about the reward that would be waiting for her once she defeated the highest level undead beast she could fight solo.
The lowest level ones were worth sixty million Rils. Regular magic beasts of middling level were also prized like that, making a middle level undead one worth one hundred eighty million Rils, and by the same calculation, a high level one would give her five hundred forty million Rils.
She felt confident that she could take down even those of legendary or ascended level on her own. The fortune from that would be a great help at creating the Refined Equipment she wanted to make, not to mention that the materials dropped by undead beasts were also some of the best for Refining.
(I’d get two birds with one stone that way.)
There were many factors deciding when magic beasts would appear, and running into them involved some luck too, or rather bad luck for most people. So all Mira could do was to make a beeline for them whenever she heard any reports.
The detective had noticed Mira’s intention to hunt undead beasts, and could only shake his head, mentioning, 「I guess those who get to the point of having a popular nickname really are on a different wavelength…」
After that, he mentioned how as an adventurer he went through many experiences but always avoided undead beasts. Still, he felt the need to mention that now as he would like to see how the Devouring Brigade fought them, at least once. After that long winded preamble, he finally reached the point of talking about how that mercenary group acted in the battlefield.
「Usually, most hunters work around a careful equilibrium of maximizing their profits while minimizing risks as much as possible, and that’s their limit. But the Devouring Brigade are different, they have completely negated all risks.」
They were specialized on hunting magic beasts with such unique quirks, so they obviously also had their own unique quirks when fighting.
「Other hunters usually try to find ways to evade or restrain the powers of undead beasts. But the Devouring Brigade decided to focus on ways to resist those powers instead.」
All magic beasts had control over powerful spells, so thinking that the human body could withstand that power went against common sense.
That applied to Mira too, while she did not think much of low level magic beasts, middle level ones would make her worry, and when it came to higher level ones, her only recourse would be to make sure nothing hit her.
There was only so much she could handle, even if she was one of the most powerful spellcasters in the world. So the idea of people being able to withstand the special power of magic beasts seemed highly unrealistic.
「Hmmm, so they can endure that. I wonder how they achieved that.」
Mira muttered that with curiosity, and the detective grinned, as he had been waiting for that, and continued talking about the methods and results achieved by them.
The Devouring Brigade was largely composed of spellcasters, who would undergo special training to acquire a holy aura that cleansed curses and spiritual ailments, while also strengthening their minds to fight back against enemies that could use mind control. On top of that, they would constantly microdose various toxins, getting their bodies used to their presence and reaching the point of becoming immune.
「In other words, they pushed the limits of the human body. But it still took them a lot of effort to reach their current point.」
They had exploited the potential of humans enough to reach the point of defeating undead beasts without much risk. That feat was something that Mira had not expected, considering they were called the Devouring Brigade, so she was impressed by it.
The potential of humans in this world far exceeded that of those in Mira’s previous world. Being able to run a hundred meters in nine seconds would make anyone an olympic champion there, but in this world there were plenty of people who could run that distance in two or three seconds.
There was also the magic aspect, which added another layer of potential in this world, making it seem limitless by comparison. Mira had experienced that first hand already, and she could appreciate the efforts others put in directions she had not thought of.
「So that’s what enough effort can accomplish… Surely there must be more to their methods, no?」
While the limit of humans was far more vast, that applied to other creatures as well, especially when it came to magic, and undead beasts were on a whole different level of power. Mira did not feel like it was possible to resist the abilities of all undead beasts, no matter how hard one worked.
She had confronted such enemies countless times in the past, so she had to ask more, and the detective nodded with satisfaction.
「Yes, there’s more. Magic beasts wouldn’t just keel over and die with just that.」 Saying that, the detective detailed another factor in the Devouring Brigade’s success.
They had very specialized equipment for any possible situation, as well as plenty of supportive spells, which they used with impeccable timing in the battlefield. Their ability to work together seamlessly was a sight to behold, and even in situations where every millisecond counted, they trusted their companions would all know exactly what to do.
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