Wait, System! Stop Helping The Protagonist!

Filth Dorp.

A forest without its shed of green, skeletal thorns of trees pruding above its head. The trees stood still, with no soul presiding inside their hollow pith.

There was a group of four threading through this lifeless forest.

Lovia spoke with fear as she tightly held Rias’s hand. "Since I have entered the forest, I feel like I am being watched. Are you guys having the same experience?"

"No. I feel we are all too alone."

"Me neither. But we should stay cautious."

Anastasia and Rias shook their heads, clueless about what Lovia is experiencing.

Ashton, on the other hand, was happy. He gave Lovia a knowing smile. ’Having an ally is really stress-relieving.’

"Rias is right. We should stay cautious and be vigilant of our surroundings. We are in a world that doesn’t run according to our knowledge, and Lovia won’t make such a baseless remark." Ashton spoke, siding with Lovia.

Anastasia and Rias nodded their heads, not opposing this suggestion.

So, the four closely stood together, forming a square. Ashton and Anastasia stood at the front while Rias and Lovia were at the back.

They heightened their awareness to the maximum, constantly surveying their surroundings.

All of a sudden, Ashton, who had his Limitless Eyes running nonstop, shouted towards Anastasia. "Watch out to your left!"

Anastasia turned her head to her left only to see a narrow cone flying towards her face. In fear, she froze, not understanding what she had to do. She has always fought opponents who would pull back their punches and not engage in a serious life-or-death battle.

Fortunately, Ashton and Rias were here.

Ashton, with his Limitless eyes already knew the moment the attack was launched. So, he grabbed Anastasia and pulled her towards him.

On the other hand, Rias raised his halberd and did a preemptive cleave at the attack’s trajectory.

Anastasia, in the frozen state, saw herself deviating from the attack’s path. Instead, a halberd rained down on it, only touching the end of it.

Aaaaa!!

The attacker, with its bottom part separated, struck a tree and fell to the ground. It screamed and made many weird noises.

The group finally were able to see the attacker, leading them to be surprised after laying their eyes on it.

A genderless baby without any skin rolled around the ground. Maggots living inside its rotten meat fell and once again crawled towards the place they call home. The baby had no body hair. It had no eyes, no nose and no ears. Its head is shaped like a sharp cone, the tip as thin as a needle. The part that Rias was able to cut was its leg. Yes, only one leg. Looking at the part that had maggots crawling out the most, they concluded its leg was in the middle.

"What a disgusting creature." Lovia had her senses attacked too much. She, a modern woman, hasn’t seen a nauseating creature ever. Seeing something before your very own eyes and seeing it digitalised is very different.

On the other hand, Anastasia frowned. She didn’t know why she felt extreme malice instead of disgust seeing a Filth for the first time.

"What is this thing called?" Rias asked, pointing his halberd at the Filth.

"I don’t know. I do not have that kind of insightful knowledge about them." Ashton shook his head, clueless. ’I do know.’

Anastasia chimed in. "Filths are ever changing. I have heard our encyclopaedia completed registering only one-third of the Filths and excluding the number of Filths that are created every hour."

Rias frowned. "If we do not know about this Filth then how will we be prepared for it?"

At that moment, Ashton signalled Lovia with his eyes to take the stage. He was already leading the team and had commanded them throughout their journey. If he now spills out information about this Filth, they might begin to suspect him. Especially Anastasia.

How can a boy who was blind to the world know so much? Even if her father taught him personally, he couldn’t possibly memorise everything in just one week.

"Ummm... I think I know what it is." Lovia crossed her arms and walked forwards. She had a pensive look on her face, her gaze resting on the screaming Filth. "I don’t know exactly what it is, but I can gauge its information from what I saw."

"First we will call it Sharp Bumper for everyone to recognise easily. Now, look at the place where this Sharp Bumper came out." Lovia pointed her finger with everyone’s gaze following. They saw a small hole dug out from the ground, the scattered soil still fresh.

"This thing might be hiding in the ground the entire time, waiting for someone to pass by and hunt them. Its feet is fat with muscles, veins visible. It used its feet to launch itself out of the ground. Its feet helped it jump out with extreme speed, so fast it was impossible to react. Fortunately, Ashton was able to notice it. The sharp, spear-like head is also impossible to protect against unless you have a shield."

"However, its advantage is in its surprise attack. Even if Rias failed to hit, we could have swarmed it and killed it easily. It is a very weak Filth. Look, without its leg it is practically useless."

Both Rias and Anastasia became extremely surprised by Lovia’s analysis.

Anastasia said with her mouth wide open. "How did you piece everything together in such a short time? I didn’t know you had talent in this field!"

Rias also showered her with praise. "Lovia, you are actually so talented. What Grandpa said is true then. You really are very intelligent. With you here, I am relieved."

Lovia puffed her chest, taking everything with pride. Her protagonist was praising her; how can she shy away now?

Meanwhile, Ashton rubbed his chin in thought. ’The way she is obsessed with the protagonist, I thought she would be a character-heavy fan, but she also knows the lore greatly. Almost like a lore nerd.’