*Omniscient POV*
"This extermination mission will be extremely dangerous. The Teriar monsters are very intelligent. They have noticed the strange environment around them and are traveling with the entire pack. 120 of them have been spotted, but with the current changes, it is expected that this number could have increased."
All the teams that accepted the mission are gathered in one place. And at the head of them is Hernan, a Knight of level 35.
This man is in charge of leading the 12 teams of adventurers in order to prevent one of them from making a mistake due to bad organization. And the groups are mostly made up of six members.
"By how much exactly will it increase, or what is the most likely number?"
"At most 150 of them in total; beyond that, it is practically impossible to guess. This terrain was their natural habitat, but their numbers have dwindled considerably since the arrival of the armies of both kingdoms..."
Hearing this, Alessia's team looked at each other.
"In other words, this mission will extinguish their race completely from this place without giving them room to escape," Irina said.
"A cornered beast, huh? How exciting!"
"It is not exciting at all. You should be careful, Miria."
As long as Zia advised, Miria pretended to understand.
'- Based on the calm atmosphere, they seem to be very used to danger' Alessia smiled at the sight of them.
As they talked to each other, at some point, the knight Hernan said the last words of his speech.
"We will attack at dusk and retreat at nightfall; the latter is very important. Remember, the Teriar monster doesn't have its dark fur for anything! It is an expert at hunting at night! The majority of the deaths occur because adventurers get overconfident and overdo it fighting them... Okay, it's time to go. Follow me."
Although some teams brought horses, halfway through they had to send them back because Hernan led them through the forest. In such a place, there is practically no room for crowds of people, let alone horses.
Two hours of walking later, the teams made it out of the extensive forest and arrived in front of a wide meadow.
"Distribute these sheets among yourselves."
The sheets that Hernán handed out were quickly passed from hand to hand until all the teams had one.
"There are exactly 12 points. Choose one, and then report it to me. You may wonder, what do they mean? They are the places where the traps are located. At dusk, the monster will go out to find a privileged hunting position, and at that moment we will find them. Your job will be to kill them in their moment of carelessness. Now take your pick!"
Alessia's group looked carefully at the sheet in their hands.
"It is several hours before sunset. Why does the Knight look so hurried?" asked Miria curiously.
Her casual words caused the three women to have a glowing stone light up over their heads.
"We should adapt our style of attack to the trap location as best suits us." Alessia was the first to say it out loud.
"Correct." Irina nodded.
"You're right," Zia replied.
On the sheet, there are 12 points located on a map. Each one is far away from the other. So, it is unlikely to receive assistance from another team if the worst-case scenario occurs.
"Mr. Hernán, we want this place to be ours."
"We want the point 7."
With this thought in mind, the teams quickly picked the safest spots, fearing that another team would steal them.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
"Won't we choose?" Alessia asked.
They all smiled and shook their heads.
"We come to this place so we can test our skills. It is necessary to feel danger from time to time. The mission the other day might have been out of our hands, but this time we know the risk. And with that in mind, we can manipulate it to deliver us the best gains." Irina said.
Alessia's eyes widened, and then she smiled.
'- Really, as expected from the team that used a trap room as training.'
Because the points were chosen quickly, Hernan gave the go-ahead for the mission. But not before handing them a red-colored stone to each of the teams.
"Break it if something out of the plan happens, and I will come to help you. But there is a limit to my help. If I see that it's all due to your team's carelessness..." Then he shook his head.
'- He won't help us if it's due to a mistake of ours, huh?' Irina thought.
Since Irina saw that the others seemed to understand the meaning behind Hernan's words, she didn't feel it necessary to say them out loud and led her team to the point they were assigned.
"From the looks of it, this is the worst place possible... Good! It's about time to move a little." Miria said this while doing a warm-up on her arm.
The point at which they must fight is the number 12, which is located between the meadow and the forest. The most peculiar thing about it is that it is relatively close to the Teriar monster's habitat. In other words, it is 100% sure that the monsters will spot the bait.
"From the looks of it, this meat must be poisoned," Zia said with a glance.
"I didn't know you were an expert at discovering poisons." Alessia smiled.
Zia could only smile, looking away. After all, Miria is usually poisoned by the monsters. Even if she didn't want to, she has become adept at discovering when she has been poisoned.
To change the subject Irina said. "How do you wish the battle to go? Under cover, an ambush, or fighting head-on."
"An ambush," said Alessia.
"Under cover," said Zia.
Having heard everyone's opinions, Irina finished by saying, "Two against one, huh? It will be under cover then. Well, we should cut down some trees to use as cover. And we'll shift the meat to a place near the entrance. That way, only the nearby monsters will be able to see us. Also..."
Irina explained everything very thoroughly, but at the same time with easy-to-understand words, showing that she is used to leading the team.
'- Irina seems to be the leader of her team-... No, wait, there is something very important I must say.'
"And Miria's opinion won't be taken into account?"
Seeing that Miria didn't give her opinion, Alessia felt it would be unfair to her.
"Ah, that..." Scratching her head, Miria said, "I wasn't born to be a captain, much less make important decisions. Since, if it were up to me, I'd attack the monsters while they're still sleeping!"
'- A suicide attack!' Alessia was surprised.
Although Miria can't read looks, she knows by heart what Alessia's expression means, so she continued to say...
"That's why I'm keeping silent right now. I trust you girls." She smiled and then said, "As long as you grant me a position where my saber can stand out, I'll be happy!"
Seeing her smile, Alessia nodded, saying, "I see."
'- She knows her own weaknesses. But instead of lessening them as much as possible, she decided to focus on her strengths by letting the others cover that hole in her defenses... I feel like I know them better now.'
While they may consider themselves friends, they don't really know each other very well. It's an odd feeling they have for each other because, despite the above, they can look out for each other without knowing each other's history.
There is an aura that attracts them and makes them feel that the other side will be an excellent friend if they can get it on their side. This strange feeling goes for both the three annoying beauties and Alessia.
After discussing the area they would use as cover, they all performed their respective tasks to the letter. Even the extroverted Miria carried out her task without overlooking anything. It's because she knows she's careless that she puts in more effort than usual.
"We finished"
Two trees were arranged one on top of the other, and several of them were arranged to form a square. Which has just enough open space for the monsters to enter one at a time.
Behind the entrance lies the bait. Large chunks of meat were piled one on top of the other; the scent they expelled would be able to attract even humans, more so a beast possessing an enhanced sense of smell.
As for Alessia's group, they are on the other side of the entrance, covered with some leftover branches from the trees so that their scent would not be mixed with the meat.
"There is about an hour left until sunset. Let us rest while we can."
And so they sat quietly, leaning against the trunks, waiting for the sun to go down and the monsters to appear. During which time they closed their eyes and rested.
*Crack*
Sometime later, something approached the bait.
"Here they come," Miria whispered.
She's the most excited about this battle, so it's only natural that she'd be the first to notice the enemy.
With a wide grin, she looked toward the entrance. She just needed to lick her lips, and everything would have been perfect.
'- Hm, Miria looks like a battle maniac...'
Alessia wasn't entirely wrong. It's just that, lately, Miria hasn't had anyone to vent the bloodlust of her saber with since the missions the manager gives her are too simple. At the end of the day, she needs something to make her blood boil from time to time.
Seconds later, a Teriar approaches the entrance and sees the delicious meat in front of it. After looking sideways and making sure there was no one there, it jumped ferociously towards the meat and started eating as if it hadn't eaten for days.
Being similar in appearance to a panther, it looked very adorable devouring the meat, especially when it began to purr from happiness. But after eating for a while, the monster stood still on the spot, noticing that the meat had something strange about it.
Realizing this, Irina raised her hand.
"Now!"