"You didn't improve a single bit, Natasha," Irina said. "I am disappointed."

"I don't want to hear that from someone who isn't doing anything," Natasha said.

Since Ryan's range was at least five times longer than Natasha's, she didn't have many chances to fight. She only fought when they found dozens of demonic cocoons and wasps hidden underground, and Ryan decided not to attack with his max firing speed.

"Meanwhile, you are not half-bad," Irina said while looking at Ryan. "You are at least a little better than this incompetent girl."

"Is that so?" Ryan said while he was looking around for his next target.

"If you want, I can make you become the chief of the guard of my city," Irina said. "While you are a foreigner, you have the skills to become a pretty decent guard. As my subordinate, the others won't be able to do anything to you and in fact, they will treat you as one of our own people. Much better than working for someone like Natasha, don't you agree?"

"I am not interested," Ryan replied.

While she was troublesome, Irina wasn't stupid. Even though she knew that Ryan was holding back, she had recognized his skills. Not only that, he was the first human whom she couldn't see the status and skills. Despite that, she thought that Ryan was working for Natasha, and she couldn't be more wrong.

"What a waste," Irina shrugged. "If you had accepted and worked hard, perhaps I would have left you lick my feet once a day."

Irina certainly had a high opinion of herself. In any case, instead of worrying about her high self-esteem, Ryan was more worried about the number of enemies. It has been a while since their progress decreased quite a lot. Now they were moving slower than walking due to the high number of encounters. While Ryan was training his archer classes, he wasn't getting many coins. For some reason, the number of coins the wasps and cocoons gave him was pretty small.

You obtained 12 coins.

You obtained 15 coins.

"I guess the reason for this problem is that the monsters aren't combat-oriented," Ryan thought. "They were made to multiply fast and cause damage by spreading their pollen in a vast area."

"You are correct," Femradiel said. "It looks like this Beelzebub fellow managed to create high-leveled creatures that wouldn't grant coins to humans, but still would cause some problems."

While looking in the distance toward the dungeon, Ryan could see a yellow sky. That was the pollen emitted by the wasps and demonic cocoons. Fortunately, whenever he killed the monsters of a certain area, the pollen would disappear from the area. After killing some wasps, Ryan waited for the pollen to dissipate, but a gust of wind made it fly toward him, Natasha, and Irina.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Spiritual Resistance.

Effect: Decreases the effect of skills and attacks that might cause direct damage to your mana.

You obtained 01 status point.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Fatigue Resistance.

Effect: Decreases the effect of skills and attacks that might cause direct damage to your stamina.

You obtained 01 status point.

The skill Cursed Resistance has leveled up.

As expected, the pollen had numerous effects, but in essence, it was just an area of effect curse spell. Just like the soldiers that worked for Irina, several stains appeared around Ryan's body. They caused damage to Ryan's mana and stamina and also decreased all of his statuses up to a certain percentage. Regardless, Ryan got rid of them after using Purification a few times.

"It looks like those monsters are trying to create a massive zone where humans can't fight," Ryan said. "While dying from being poisoned or cursed is unlikely, they still can train their skills like this and thus, get stronger."

"It really is a roundabout way to corner humans," Natasha frowned after she used Purification on herself as well. "Did the other demons you faced use a similar strategy?"

"No… and that is what makes me worry," Ryan replied.

It would make sense if the sole goal of the dungeon master were to make the dungeon reach the max level using that strategy, but at that point in time, the demonic generals probably heard of Ryan. So, unless they were dead brain idiots, they were supposed to know that such a strategy wouldn't work against him. They also knew that Ryan was traveling through the continents, so it was only obvious that Ryan would eventually find them again.

In the end, the first day of the hunt ended without much progress. Ryan couldn't understand the goal of the dungeon master even after thinking about the situation for several hours. Regardless, Irina's bodyguards that didn't do a single thing the whole day, just like her, armed the camp and a massive tent for her. As for Ryan and Natasha, they only could make use of the campfire that they made.

"Are you going to take the first turn of the guard duty?" Natasha asked. "I think we should stay alert through the entire night together since we are close to the enemies' territory."

"If you can find them at night, you are free to join me," Ryan said. "However, if you can't find them easily, you should sleep. I am used to this kind of job."

Natasha nodded after hearing that, even at night, the difference in range was too big, so she wouldn't be able to kill many monsters. While everyone was busy resting, Ryan decided to put his plans in action.

Anesthetic Crossbow (Curse) (+3)

Effect: fire bolts at the cost of twenty-five points of mana that might numb the senses of your foes based on their level of mentality and willpower.

Dexterity + 91, Intelligence + 39

Durability: 60/60

Ryan also tried to create other crossbows that could cause direct that mage to the enemies' mana and stamina while it also caused real damage. However, he never obtained that effect. Despite that, he wasn't bothered by it. After all, he already had the skills that could do that.