I have some bad news. Maybe it sounds unbelievable, but writing this book is heavily taking its toll on my psyche. My fellow authors even advised me to visit a psychiatrist lol. Well, at least I know that I don’t need a mental health check up… for now. But what I really need is a change of pace.

So, I decided to concentrate on the new book of mine. Hence, I have no choice but to decrease the release rate of chapters to one per day. But as compensation, the chapters will be longer.

I am extremely sorry. Stay tuned! Enjoy!

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Everyone, including the verterans, had their eyes and mouth wide open. The newbies, who did not seem to be more than twenty five years of age reduced the monsters to this state in this short time, and this ease?

Even though the spiders were relatively weaker among all the known magical beasts, they were still strong enough to deal with lower mid levels circlers on their own. And they killed six of them, just like that? Without using magic? If they did not witness the scene with their own eyes, they would never have believed it.

The two amateurs eyes almost popped out. Their jaws were on the floor. Despite being level 3s, they could hardly hold off two arachnids at once. And the two ‘newbies’ massacred these spiders, as if they were squashing everyday bugs.

Adrian ambled back to his previous position and waved his hand, throwing off the spider pastes attached to his fists. Irene walked back as well and imitated her teacher- whipping the sword to clean it off.

Adrian took the sword and returned it back to its original owner, Ruford who barely managed to stand up on his feet again.

“Ahem.” The bearded leader attracted everyone’s attention. “Are you okay?” He asked.

“Yes.” Adrian said. “It was a nice warm up.”

Irene nodded as well.

“Have you ever hunted before? Or went to any sort of excursion in the wilderness?”

“Yes. We are not new to this world.”

The leader, Dorian nodded. “No wonder you scored this high in the tests. As I can see, both of you are augmenters. You can join me in the front in melee.”

Both of the duo nodded.

“Good.” The leader strapped the spear back and fetched the torch back from the ground. “The hot springs is not far away. According to the scout’s report, the winter python is there.” He looked back at Adrian and Irene. “Don’t get overconfident from this small victory. A fully grown winter python is a high level monster. And this one is reported to span at least twenty meters. It should be close to a level 8 in strength.” He began to walk ahead.

The rest followed. The rest of the journey was smooth. The temperature increased. It was now akin to that of a regular bright year day. Everyone removed their coat and folded them into their backpacks, everyone except Adrian and Irene of course.

Finally, they reached their destination. Their was a sort of a doorway ahead. Their senses told that their was a huge open space just beyond that entryway. Their footsteps slowed down. They peaked their senses and creeped across the remaining tunnel.

They frowned. The closer they got to the open space, they knitted their eyebrows further and further. Something was wrong. There was no movements or magical signatures inside the cave, or any type of presence.

Still, they kept their guard up. It was common knowledge that the winter python was a sneaky being, capable of hiding their presence almost perfectly.

The leader, Dorian took in a deep breath. He had hunted winter pythons before. In fact his stellar track record was the reason the higher ups bestowed him with this mission. But none of those pythons was able to hide their presence to this extent. But it was not an impossible scenario. None of those snakes were twenty meters in length.

He unhooked the spear and gripped the hilt tight. The others brought out their weapons as well. Only the newbies remained unarmed.

Dorian gestured the archers with his eyes. The lady and the scarred middle aged man nodded. They unsheathed their secondary weapons, their swords, and passed them to the newbies.

Bron, the brown haired caster gave them an encouraging smile. The amateurs looked at the newbies with complex emotions in their eyes. The grip on their weapons were tighter than ever.

Everyone took back their cautious stance as they approached the doorway. 30 meters. 25 meters. 20 meters. The leader, Dorian, gulped again. The more step he took, the faster his heart beat. The spear in his grip felt slimy.

It was not only about him. There were others he needed to protect- his old time comrades, the clumsy but hardworking amateurs, and the genius but mysterious newbies. 15 meters. 10 meters. 5 meters.

Dorian took a deep breath. Someone had to finish this winter python. Else, the road to the other side will be blocked for the entire frigid year, with no scope of exploration or further hunts. The earnings of the Hunter Guild would decrease, and so would the livelihood of the poor hunters.

He squinted in determination. The magical energy in his body churned at maximum speed. But the footsteps remained light.

The archers behind nocked arrows to their bows. A green magic circle formed above Bron. The amateurs were trembling while the mysterious newbies looked the calmest amongst the members.

He nodded at the team before stepping past the doorway, his spear all ready to defend a strike from any direction. As long as the opponent was not a level 9 equivalent, he would not die from one strike… hopefully.

But there was nothing. Nevertheless, he did not let his guard down by any means. Everyone else entered the room as well. They maximised their senses and scanned the entire room. There was no monsters in here, not even a single one.

Adrian, along with Irene, was calm as calm could be. There was no magical organisms in here other than themselves. Still, he followed the party.

Red glowing crystals protruding from the walls and grounds tinged the whole space red. These were a special type of fire magic crystals that would lose all its energy if anyone removed them from the source. Hence, nobody bothered to harvest something this useless.

There was a large spring at the centre, covering more than half of the entire area. The red light made it as if it was filled with blood. There were bubbles constantly bursting on the surface while undulations waved right above. Clearly, the spring was hot.

Ruford looked left and right before fixing his gaze on the water body. The sword in his hand trembled. “The snake… it’s not in the spring, right?” He gulped.

“Shut up you dimwit!” Simon frowned. His behaviour was a lot more stable than his comrade, but the string of his bow was still stretched to the fullest. “Snakes are cold blooded beasts. They will overheat and die in that spring.”

“But-“

“He is right.” Bron said. The magic circle above him glowed green. “The beast might be magical, but it is called the winter python for a reason. Unlike the other snakes which brumate during the frigid years, the winter pythons are designed to brumate in the bright years. It’s a huge biological disadvantage to cold blooded creatures like them. These beasts have no other choice to reside in rare warm areas like these. Neither can they survive in the cold of the outside, nor can they withstand the near boiling temperature of this spring.”

Ruford finally steadied himself with a deep breath. He let out a sigh of relief.

Dorian, after checking the entire space, frowned. “It’s not here.” He drove the butt of the spear to the ground.

The three other veterans lowered their weapons as well. They had unconditional trust towards their leader.

Dorian turned towards the other side of the enclosed space and frowned. There was another gateway like the one they came from just beyond the hot spring. “It’s out hunting.”

“Should we follow it?” The only female member of the party asked. “Or shall we wait here, preparing for an ambush.”

“The second choice is not an option.” The leader answered. “Winter pythons have excellent senses. There’s a high chance they will not return once they notice us. We have to charge forth.”

Bron frowned. “But there’s a death zone not far from here. It’s not that we don’t know it’s correct location. But these zones cannot be trusted. Remember the case from six years ago? A party of hunters disappeared. Their target location was not far away from death zone dui.”

Dorian frowned. “Nothing has been set in stone. That was the only such case in the last decade. There’s a high chance that the party accidentally walked into the zone, or the party was targeted by other beasts.”

“Yes. But it was never proven that the creatures or whatever that lurks in those zones stays at the same spot.”

The leader knitted his brows further. But soon, he relaxed and sighed. “Okay, we will not delve much deeper. If we can find the snake in a hundred meters, we will pin it down. If not, we will think of something else then.

The brown haired noble heaved out a sigh. He knew how stubborn the leader was, especially when it came to finishing compulsory missions. He turned to his comrades, the lady and the middle aged man.

Both of them nodded. He nodded as well.

“Good, let’s go.”