When Manco was back to the lobby, a large crowd of people was gathering in front of the reception area and loudly arguing.

Approaching the crowd, he heard them talking over each other. From the bits and pieces he heard, he found out that they were complaining about some sort of insect swarm in the forest to the north, next to the Sighing Swamp.

"They'll definitely hang that witch for this!" A tall man in lumberjack outfit grunted, and his friends nodded in agreement.

"But she's never done anything like this before! She would often help cure the sick people that the church can't!" Another man interjected.

"What do you know? What if she's the one making them sick in the first place?…"

The group grew louder and rowdier by the minute until several guards had to step in and calm them down. Having heard enough, Manco exited the mansion.

He opened the quest list to check the quest named "Witch's Presence." It was given to him by Iridia the cleric, and was also posted on the bulletin board.

〔Quest: Witch's Presence 〕(Unique)

> Type: Elimination. Difficulty: B

> Given by: Broken Hill's authority 〈Show details▼〉

> Location(s): Broken Hill, Northern Forest

> Details: A witch has unleashed a powerful plague spell in the northern forest near the Sighing Swamp. Put a stop to her actions. 〈Show more▼〉

> Reward:

1. Improved Standing with Broken Hill's authority and citizens.

2. Discount at various stores, shops, and stalls.

3. XP

4. ???

—.—

The difficulty had increased, and the quest type had changed from 'Investigation' to 'Elimination.'

'Strange, this quest seems pretty useful. Why didn't that group do it?'

Before becoming 'Elimination,' the 'Investigation' quest had been on the bulletin board for at least a week. It seemed like a no-brainer to check out, but for some reason, the group of six had skipped it.

With plenty of time left until the hunt, he decided to check it out and walked out the north gate.

"It's this close?" Manco muttered as he stood at the edge of the unnamed forest, observing the place. On his field of vision, a marker showed the approximate location of the witch's hut, which stood near a lake a mere seven hundred meters away.

Shrugging, he made his way in.

One minute later, he started feeling something was off.

The forest was completely silent. It was not the kind of silence where there were predators nearby and the animal kept quiet. It was as if the forest was entirely devoid of living animals.

A rotting smell wafted to his nose. Checking around, he found a dead fox inside a hollow log. A quick inspection informed him that it had been choked by a variety of insects like flies, and bees, which invaded its airway. Judging by the tracks, it looked like the fox had run away from the insect swarm, dashed through several thorned bushes, then crawled inside this log, hoping to escape its fate.

'This looks like the witch's doing. But why?'

Retracing the fox's tracks, Manco made his way deeper into the forest. He saw a dead squirrel, a dead wolf, then countless more animal corpses. All were covered in insects and at various stages of decomposition. The air was thick with a mixture of unpleasant smells, from rotting meat to excrements. He had to watch his step to avoid stepping onto the rotting carcasses.

After a while, he heard faint buzzing sounds ahead, and a fly flew straight at his forehead with such speed that it immediately splattered. Frowning, he swiped it off and kept walking.

The deeper he went, the louder the buzzing grew. Insects of all shapes and sizes fluttered around him, some even clung to his body and clothes. As they had not done any harm yet, he left them be.

Two hundred meters away from the hut, he quietly brushed aside a low-hanging branch…

…and saw the area in front of him completely dominated by flying insects.

Flies, bees, moths, grasshoppers… insects of every kind, shape, and size were flying randomly in the air without any definite pattern. The air was so thick with insects that he couldn't see farther than ten meters ahead. Countless others were crawling on on the trees, shrubs, and bushes, blanketing everything with their bodies. He barely saw any speck of green in front of him.

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The ground was covered with a thin layer of sticky black sludge, a mixture of insect droppings, rotted organic material, and dead insects.

The buzzing grew in both volume and frequency, making him feel like his skull was rattling inside his head.

This was, quite obviously, not a natural phenomenon, but the effect of a spell like 'Insect swarm' or something similar. However, the magically created insects should only last for a few hours, and would not be able to grow to this number, unless there was another enhancement spell added to augment the effect or increase the duration.

'This looks dangerous…'

From the look of it, he could get through the insects using a combination of spells and items. He had Mana Shield and Gust to protect himself. Fire Bolt, Mana Blast, Dark Implosion and vials of Alchemical Fire could be used to clear the path. He had plenty of health and mana potions, so he was confident that he could walk 200 meters to the hut.

'But is it that easy, though?'

He looked at the swarm again. To create such a thing, the caster must have used at least a combination of two Tier-4 spells. Defeating her on her turf was a difficult prospect. Not to mention she might have laid traps or detected him coming. If a fight broke out when he was in the middle of the insect swarm, he would have trouble running away, let alone winning.

Running through the list of spells he had at his disposal, he frowned in annoyance. Even if he went back to the tavern to swap out another set of spells, it wouldn't help much. Without a way to completely get rid of the insect swarm to level the playing field, it would be extremely difficult to proceed.

'I'll just deal with that group first, then!'

Grudgingly, he returned to Broken Hill.

Having done some preliminary scouting on the areas north and south of Broken Hill, Manco checked on the east side.

Manco made his way to the nearest hill at the east of the town. Most of the creatures fled at the sight of him and soon he was at the top of the hill and began observing his surroundings.

Between the hills, the main road stretched away as far as his eyes could see. Along the road, he saw a handful of mud-walled, thatched roof cottages among a few wheat fields. The wheat grew poorly, and large patches had died off and had to be uprooted by the farmers. The land on the east side of Aegis river was unnaturally infertile and unsuitable for farming. Except for the forests at the north and south of the city, which were right next to Aegis river, every other place was dominated by grass and weed.

Beyond his vision range, about five kilometers from Broken Hill, there would be a fork in the road. The path going straight east lead to larger settlements, while going south-east would take him to a path up the mountains where small communities resided. This was where Cordelia would go next after her business here was done.

The reason he directed her to this location was her class. Upon reaching level 25, the characters would hit a level cap where their level stopped increasing. Gained experienced was still accumulated but will expire over time. To continue leveling, they would need to complete a 'Class awakening' quest chain. For most classes, the location to get these quests were the appropriate organizations (such as Archer's Guild or Rogue's Guild) typically found in large cities. The Shaman class was among the few exceptions, and one of the settlements on the mountains would have what Cordelia needed to advance.

After a while, Manco decided there was nothing more to see at the east side and went back to the inn.

He looked over the map and the brief notes he had made regarding the areas around Broken Hill.

- North: Forest, Sighing Swamp. Quest: 〔Witch's Presence〕

- West: Back across the bridge, into the Sighing Swamp. Path leading back to Mistwood Village. Quest: 〔An Alchemist's Woe〕.

- South: Forest. Quest: 〔Desecrated Ground〕

- East: Hill, Grassland. Road to larger settlements or up mountains.

"That's about it," closing the map, he moved on to re-organizing his spell list.