"I'll never come to a place like this again, even if I'm killed!"

With great difficulty, Aya pulled her left leg out of the muddy swamp and stepped back onto solid ground. This was not the first time she had cursed and complained through clenched teeth. At first, she found the slippery moss-covered ground hard to accept, but now compared to this quagmire, it seemed like paradise.

This rotten mud could sink half of her leg in with every step, and to make matters worse, it was accompanied by a disgusting odor. What exactly was the difference between this and excrement?

Thinking about it made Aya's face turn pale, and she quickly slapped herself to stop herself from thinking further.

"Are you some kind of princess or something? Can't handle it?"

The gunner who had already stepped onto the bank sneered at Aya, pointing at her with a finger in what he believed to be a cool and arrogant pose. "How could someone as delicate as you become a member of the strongest adventurer team?"

"I never had any intention of becoming a member of the strongest adventurer team in the first place. Once I earn enough money, I'll retire, thank you very much. And how did you determine that I'm not qualified for it?"

"Hmph, of course it's possible." This idiot seemed to be about to demonstrate. He suddenly turned around and, in a diving-like motion, rotated three and a half times in the air before plunging back into the mud, causing a big splash of stench. Three seconds later, he stood up with a disgusting slime-like posture and proudly said, "See, even in this situation, I remain unfazed. That's the mental toughness a strong person should have!"

Damn, that's so disgusting!

Aya had the urge to hit him. This guy was an idiot, no doubt about it!

"Wait?! What are you doing, sis? Put me down!"

Even Aetra couldn't stand watching anymore. Her mechanical arm reached out and plucked the mud ball from the marsh, while Aya cooperatively blasted him from head to toe with a high-pressure water gun.

"Do you mind if I use magic?" Aya waved at the dripping wet Aetra.

"... I'd rather you not." Aetra's expression was somewhat helpless, as she didn't want to wade through the mud herself.

"Although we still have a distance to go into the deeper area, there are already quite a few powerful monsters here. The use of magic might alert them... Our goal is to search, not to kill monsters. Let's try to minimize our consumption."

After listening to her, Aya silently looked ahead at the never-ending expanse of the swamp and then down at her clean legs.

"Decision made! To hell with the monsters! If I take even one step into that pile of mud again, I'll go back and tell Tiran to her face that she's flat-chested!"

As soon as she made the vow, Aya regretted it. Oh no, I just made a really serious flag.

...

Ten minutes later.

"You again? Will it ever end?"

Standing on the large ice floes frozen by the magic, Aya held a steel sword in each hand and stared at the two alligators that seemed to merge with the swamp. One was four meters long and the other was five meters long. Their scales were as tough as rocks, and ordinary swords couldn't inflict effective damage. Their jaws could probably bite through steel like scissors... If it were an ordinary mercenary group, they might suffer heavy casualties or even be wiped out with just one encounter.

These were the 19th and 20th monsters to be attracted by the commotion caused by Aya's blatantly releasing ice magic within ten minutes. It just never seemed to end.

"I did remind you, you know." The female gunner had a relaxed expression on her face, following behind Aya after equipping her basic magic armor. Aya's strength was witnessed by her own eyes, effortlessly playing with that overpowered magical puppet. She couldn't help but marvel once again at how wise it was to bring Aya into the team.

"Well, thank you again..." Aya sighed, focusing her attention on the two crocodiles swimming towards her.

The faint ripples vanished when they were about ten meters away from where Aya stood on the icy surface. Aya immediately swung her sword, unleashing two Chi blades, but they only caused splashes of mud.

"They ran away... damn it!"

Before she could think carefully, the ice beneath Aya's feet began to crack, and two large crocodile heads emerged from below, biting towards her.

Aya broke out in a cold sweat, but her reflexes were not slow at all. Golden Chi gathered beneath her feet, repelling the crocodiles as she leaped up and swung her sword, the sword light tearing through the crocodile-like armor on their skin, cutting the two creatures in half.

"Sword's no good again."

Nervousness led to improper Chi control, resulting in too much Chi being infused and crushing two ordinary steel swords. Aya threw away the remnants of the swords, extending a hand towards Eteras. "Do you have more?"

"Here you go." Eteras was rather generous. After all, those mass-produced steel swords were worth a few silver coins at most outside. She still had some in her storage ring.

"My judgment was truly correct! With such strength, you are indeed qualified to be my teammate!" The man with the tight-fitting suit and long spear walked up with a booming laughter, ready to pat Aya's shoulder but was dodged with an expression of disdain.

"You, just leave. Who was it that said I wasn't qualified to be your teammate ten minutes ago?" Aya clenched her fist and muttered discontentedly.

"Uh... cough, that was a mistake! A mistake! Even legendary heroes can have moments of misjudgment!" Ino stuttered, forcing an explanation.

Well, good job. Your explanation makes me want to beat you up even more.

"Hey, Eteras, do we really have to search the entire swamp like this?" Aya leaned on her sword and asked when they rested atop a slightly larger rock pile.

This can't go on forever. Although my magic power and physical strength are still abundant, at this search speed, it will take months to cover the entire swamp. By that time, the opportune moment would have passed.

"Relax, relax," Eteras waved her hand without even looking up, continuing to jot down and draw on a map in her hand, "the routes I chose earlier were carefully selected as the best options, including almost the entire peripheral area. The only thing left to search is the deep part of the swamp."

"By deep part, you mean over there?" Ino pointed to the swamp depths shrouded in black mist and dark clouds, showing an eager expression. "Let's depart immediately! My comrades are already impatiently waiting to drink the witch's blood!"

"Shut up, edgy boy."

Eteras didn't hesitate to punch the eccentric boy on the head. "It's getting dark, and I'm not interested in provoking the nocturnal creatures lurking around."

"Can't you be a bit more ambitious, sis? Just some monsters, I can take care of them in minutes..."

Bam.

"You hit me again!" The edgy boy glared at his sister, dissatisfied.

The sound of clenched fists, a menacing sneer.

"I... I'll go gather firewood." Faced with his even more unreasonable sister, the edgy boy shamefully backed down.

...

Crackle, crackle. Crackle, crackle.

On the rocky island surrounded by marshes, sparks flew from the bonfire, illuminating the dark night with faint crackling sounds.

In fact, there wasn't much difference in sensory perception between day and night in the dim swamp. Regardless of the time, this place always had a gloomy atmosphere; it was just slightly darker at night.

Several clean skewers were pierced with dried rations over the bonfire. After they were heated, Etrathes tore them open and distributed them to Aya and Ino.

"This is not the kind of adventure I imagined..." Aya looked disappointed. She thought there would be a barbecue like they had in the royal villa, but all they had were dried rations?

She had actually asked before, but both Ino and Etrathes looked at her with a dumbfounded expression. Later, she secretly killed a swamp monster and cut a few pieces of meat to grill. However, it ended up smelling like rotten mud from the swamp, almost making Aya vomit.

"Although the legend of the fallen god's domain is likely false, this is indeed The Realm tainted by darkness. The creatures that can survive here have undergone varying degrees of mutation and it's easy to run into problems when eating casually." Etrathes finally couldn't bear it and kindly explained.

"Well... can't I just use Purification Magic?" Aya gritted her teeth and raised her hand, about to cast a high-level Purification Magic on the meat.

"Hey hey, although I know you're a powerful magic user, isn't that a bit extravagant?" Etrathes couldn't help but smirk. Purification Magic on grilled meat? If the Theurgs from the church found out, they would probably be furious and challenge you to a duel.

"But I really want to eat meat..." Aya felt wronged. After living in the castle for so long, her taste buds had become picky. If she were to go back to her past life in the wilderness, she would definitely go crazy.

"I really can't do anything with you..." Etrathes suddenly brightened up and snapped her fingers, taking a large pot and a pile of fresh ingredients out of her ring.

"Eh? What's this..."

"I was originally planning to make a good meal for myself after completing the mission, but why not do it a bit earlier? You worked hard today, so consider it a thank-you gift."

With a knife in hand, the female gunslinger blinked.