Chapter 282: Surviving in the Jungle 2
TL/Editor: raei
Schedule: 5/Week Mon-Fri
Illustrations: Posted in discord.
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When the notion that a witch was the culprit emerged, some viewers worried that conclusions were being jumped to too hastily.
However, it was inevitable.
After all, there wasn't only one witch.
They were spread throughout swamps, jungles, and forests.
Even if they didn't form villages, they interacted and were notorious enough to exist in numbers ranging from dozens to hundreds.
Therefore, identifying which among them was suspicious had to start now.
A silver lining was that the mystery quest, was less likely to displease viewers thanks to the sudden appearance of beautiful barbarian warrior women.
It's odd how presenting pretty female characters could dissipate dissatisfaction, as if this were bread and circuses from ancient Rome.
"How can you be so strong?"
"Hmm... By killing a lot of monsters?"
Was it so shocking hatt I braved through swarms of man-eating bugs that even adults and their parents fear?
Tiny girls, not even reaching my chest, were circling around me, their eyes sparkling.
Their gaze was different from the sly noble ladies of the capital; it was like that of a boy in his prime looking at a transforming robot toy.
How could I tell?
Because Gaspard, a man and a father, looked at me with the same eyes.
If we're talking professions, there really isn't a pure tank like me among barbarian warriors.
Someone who wears armor and takes hits like I do must be a novel sight to them.
"A witch, you say? I did suspect it. But which witch?"
"That's the problem. There's not just one witch in the swamp."
Even as I felt like a transforming robot toy on a display shelf, our group was diligently putting their heads together.
Even if we had a lead on the quest that a witch was the culprit, it was just the beginning.
We didn't know which witch was the perpetrator or where she was hiding.
Our task was clear: to roam the edges of forests and jungles to find the scene of the incident.
And the vivid witness to that scene was something I had just fished out of the river.
"Gaspard, you said the herb garden was attacked and turned into a mess?"
"A mess? Oh, yes. It was strangely destroyed."
"It was a beautiful place full of flowers, but it's all turned upside down now!"
"The trees fell too! The deep forest was blown open!"
Han Se-ah, sharing my thoughts, approached Gaspard, who was soothing his wife, to ask questions.
Then, the two sisters, having been observing my armor, ran over and began chattering away.
Unlike the fisherman Gaspard, the sisters had a lot to say, possibly because they were responsible for gathering herbs and exploring the jungle.
The two sisters began explaining with clear and crisp pronunciation.
Listening to them, heading towards Silbang and Gaspard's village was the right move for the quest to progress.
"It looks like they're trying to isolate the converted village, doesn't it?"
"Definitely. It's similar to how intelligent creatures like yetis attack small villages."
Releasing mutated water bugs in shallow rivers to break rafts, destroying herb gardens, and attacking the path between the barbarian village and Antibes territory...
Even for someone who dislikes thinking so much, it was clear that the target was not the Antibes territory but the converted barbarian village.
They cut off escape routes and isolated the village, causing just enough chaos in the territory to prevent any potential support.
Katie added her experience from the North, mentioning similar incidents reported to the knights' order, and Grace and Irene nodded, agreeing there was merit to the theory.
"A witch targeting the village? Why?"
"Because she's a witch."
"Right, because she's a witch."
Converting to the Goddess Faith had significantly tainted the image of witches in the minds of Silbang and Gaspard, leaning heavily towards evil.
The idea of an evil witch using unknown bugs to attack the village didn't surprise them; they simply nodded, accepting it as typical witch behavior.
Their casual conversation, stripped of context, appeared as trivial as debating whether to have beef soup or spicy pork for lunch.
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Raei Translations
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The situation was intriguing for viewers, with witches as targets of suspicion and the village of converted barbarian warriors slowly being surrounded.
This sparked various discussions.
-Anxiety-ridden brown-skinned married woman.. Too good
-Guys, shouldn't we talk about the quest a bit?
-Will we see chocolate women of different types in the village? F*ck I'm excited
-It turned to sh*t because of the bugs, but my eyes have been cleansed, and public opinion has been restored
-Damn the difference in outfits. Look at those slender waists..
However, the chat was dominated by talk of the beautiful women with brown skin.
Grace in her leather armor, Katie in her light metal armor, and Irene covered from head to toe in a nun's habit, were not showing a strand of hair.
Han Se-ah, too, with her robe from a quest reward, didn't expose her skin.
Compared to them, the barbarian warriors had more skin on display.
Both the nurturing mothers and the girls showed more than they covered.
"So, we head to Silbang's village?"
"The raft's broken. We'll have to walk."
The chat, buzzing with those enjoying the sight of brown skin for the first time, didn't realize the situation was heating up for other reasons.
The group, unaware of Han Se-ah's discomfort, moved on.
It was fascinating how Silbang, the bulky one, Gaspard, the slender one, and Gaspard's wife all moved swiftly through the trees.
The viewers only focused on one person, and specifically, certain bouncing parts as they dodged the trees.
The journey to Silbang's village was not as smooth as expected.
"Bugs!"
"Ew, they're all over the trees too! Watch out above!"
"Yuck! Disgusting!"
The increasing number of bugs proved that the village was indeed being surrounded.
Beetles, centipedes, stick bugs, moths every imaginable bug formed an army.
At this point, it truly felt like we were in the southern jungles.
Crushing a giant centipede crawling to wrap around my ankle, using a shield to fend off a beetle charging like a wolf, and smacking a stick bug attempting to leap over my head to attack from behind.
Grace was busy shooting down moths spreading paralyzing powder, while Katie used her unique frost aura to freeze and slash through monsters mixed with snails and slimes.
"So many! And disgusting!"
"Fortunately, they're weak. ...Just too many of them."
Despite being mutated and enlarged, they couldn't stand against adventurers of our level.
Gaspard's family, the group's only potential weakness, was safely protected within Irene's protective shield.
The issue was their number.
The bugs swarmed in such a disgusting way, proving why they were called a 'swarm.'
Even if I killed hundreds with reflective damage, we hadn't made much progress.
"The bodies are piling up. Roland, can you push them away?"
"I'll just smash them all, no problem?!"
Unlike monsters from the Tower that turned into mana stones upon death, the bodies of the bugs piled up layer upon layer.
Han Se-ah was also targeting softer-bodied creatures with Gust of Wind and Magic Missiles, but that was about it.
Given their size, the only way to clear the path blocked by the bug corpses was to demolish the dense trees entirely.
As I gathered mana into my warhammer, the giant beetles' antennae began to twitch nervously.
For the viewers plastering the chat with shrieks, I turned towards the floating camera with a bit of mischief.
"There's no end if we deal with them one by one!"
"Roland, wait-"
Before she could finish, Han Se-ah, feeling a sense of dread from behind, stretched out her hand too late.
Instead of swinging from top to bottom, the ground was torn apart with a long swing, like hitting a golf ball, and the shockwave swept everything away.
-f*ck!!!!!!!!!!!!! Han!!!!!!! Se-ah!!!!!!!!!!!! You f*cking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Is this some kind of protest to make us pay?
-Forbes' top-ranked sh*tty streamer, number one on Forbes' most disgusting streams
-Is it right to stream this crap during dinner time?
-Just f*cking keep the camera on Irene and the chocolate sisters, who the hell wants to see crushed crickets
"No! We're in the middle of a battle, and if we don't film the battle, only inside the shield, then you'll all complain about not being able to see what's in front!"
The aftermath of the attack sent green, brown, and mushy insect fluids, along with soil and leaf litter, soaring high into the sky.
The crushed insect bodies in between provided a visual that was more than enough to curse one's sharp vision.
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