One month later.
The Wesseland Federation, the Eastern Front, on the edge of the Mist Swamp.
The morning mist had yet to clear. Gray-white vapor churned low over the muddy swamp as two patrol squads advanced cautiously, their expressions wary.
In the Federation, a squad usually consisted of seven to fifteen people, and its captain was almost always a low-level awakened.
"Stay concealed. There seem to be Otherworldly Demons up ahead-" A captain lowered himself into a crouch behind a twisted dead tree and gestured to his squad.
The captain was around thirty or forty, with a thick beard and a weather-beaten face. He was only a level-two awakened, the sort of spellcaster with little future whose entire life could be seen at a glance.
The others hurried to conceal themselves, not daring to make a sound. For a moment, only muffled gurgles from deep in the swamp and the cries of unknown creatures all around them could be heard.
Several hundred meters away, faint rustling came from within the gray-white mist, as though something were slithering rapidly across the ground.
The bearded captain's scalp prickled. He peered intently ahead and saw a green silhouette shift within the mist, followed by the tinkling of a bell.
The eerie sound that made his whole body uneasy and sent chills down his spine grew louder. The bearded captain's heart jolted. "Damn it, he's spotted us!"
Before he finished speaking, shrill screams erupted from the squad members beside him.
"Centipedes! Venomous snakes! So many of them!"
The bearded captain looked around in horror and discovered that they were surrounded by densely packed venomous snakes, centipedes, spiders, and countless unidentified poisonous creatures.
Centipedes crawled inside some soldiers' leather armor, while spiders and venomous snakes bit others in vital spots. They howled and writhed in