Chapter 26 (1/2)

Retreating to the Gra.s.sland

Our battle to retreat became very slow.

We needed to escort the wagons, that’s why we had to retreat without leaving any traces behind for the pursuers.

The method of not leaving traces behind is well accustomed in the gra.s.sland.

Because if you unskillfully left behind traces, wolves would attack your village and cause damage to sheeps and horses

Our smells can’t be expected to be completely erased, but there’s no human that has that good of a nose.

When we stopped for a break at our camping location, we refilled out food supply with what we had in the wagons.

Emptying the wagons, we put fighters into the wagons by turns to let them rest, that brought enough efficiency in moving.

It’s been 5 days since we retreated, there was still room to spare even if we had all the Fighters enter the wagons.

I confirmed with Au tribe’s Warriors (16) and got permission to abandon the wagon here. (TN: Just in case, they emptied the food wagon)

It’s only natural to have them act when the escort isn’t going very efficiently.

Among the Warriors, there was one man, who was a Fire magic user, that was warming up the fire for cooking.

He’s called Borolk, he’s a magic user that can burn a bunch of people to death with his fire magic.

「Borolk」

「What is it, Jumuka-dono」

「Can you do Conditioned Invocation and Continuous Invocation over a long period of time？」

「Yes、 Conditioned Invocation will be invoked at a fixed condition、and for Continuous Invocation if it’s not more than 14 days then it’s possible。 」

「Alright、if that is the case」

I picked up a stone and handed it to Borolk.

「Load Fire magical power into this」

「Yes」

Borolk began to load up magical power.

Meanwhile, I had the Earth magic users made a chest from the soil.

I used magic to gather CO2 from the surrounding of the bonfires, then crammed it into that chest.

「It’s done Jumuka-dono」

Borolk showed me a bright red stone.

With the rock being on high temperature, only the people who covered their hands with Fire magic can touch it.

I placed the chest into the abandoned wagon and put the stone inside.

Then I covered the box with a lid so that air wouldn’t escape.

「Borolk、can you make magical power released from the stone the moment the lid is moved？」

「If it’s just that simple then it’s possible、please don’t look down on me。 」

This guy is indeed a genius isn’t he. I can’t even maintain conditioned invocation for 8 days…

I will also pour oxygen from outside into the box with my conditioned invocation when the lid is moved.

Next morning, with only one wagon, we made further progress in returning to the gra.s.sland.

For the sake of not making the horses useless, we advanced while being careful.

～Three days after that （Shaomin）～

His pursuing unit arrived at the location where the wagon was abandoned.

「Brother, is this way good？」

「Eh、 they hid their traces of advancing。 As expected, though they were all young boys, I can’t help but say that they’re still gra.s.sland people。 Though we had to decrease the number of people in this pursuit unit because of food problems、I’m glad we brought the pursuit dog。 」

When they built a bridge and crossed the Great river to chase, Shaomin decided to decrease the number of people in the pursuit unit by 50 and brought along the pursuit dog.

He counted the fact that those guys sweated a lot after a long time fighting on the battle field and left behind their smells.

His prediction was splendid, had they not brought the dog, they would’ve had to only give up in trying to figure out which direction the gra.s.sland people ran.

「Brother、there’s a wagon over there、probably belongs to the gra.s.sland guys」

「Eh、 they probably decrease the amount of food and threw the wagon away to increase moving speed。 They’re still just boys。 If they leave it like this, the delicious smell of food will come out。 」 (TN: Right. Inb4 there’s a f.u.c.king BAKUDAN inside…)

Many people from the pursuit unit looked into the empty wagon with nothing inside.

There was a chest made from soil inside. They opened it.

That moment, the stone that was loaded with Fire magic began to generate heat, then Wind magic sent oxygen into the stone.

Suddenly sending oxygen into a heated object, a phenomenon called Back Draft occurred.

The people who opened the box was instantly burned to death, the people around was sent flying with an explosion and injured with the shattered pieces of soils, then the h.e.l.l fire from the burning wagon blazed up and killed the injured people.

As Wind magic continued to gather oxygen, the people standing around the violent combustion collapsed due to lack of oxygen.

「Wha！ What is that！ Fall back、fall back right now。 Quickly distant yourself from that。 」

Shaomin’s shout was drowned out by the thunderous roar of the h.e.l.l fire, but they were somehow able to distant themselves from it.

Shaomin’s pursuit unit was stopped here for 6 days.

Shaomin’s pursuit unit resumed their pursuit.

The ignored everything about that wagon they found mid-way.

However, it’s already too late because the horses and dogs became frightened the moment they saw a wagon.

21 days from the retreat of Gra.s.sland people

The dog suddenly let out a loud noise.

「Are we close？」

The dog barked when it heard so.

「Everyone、 for some reasons the Gra.s.sland boys are near。 We’ll set up a camp here today。 The Scout unit form one group of 5。 Please investigate the surrounding。 Please make sure to come back even if you found something。 」

The people from the Scout unit nodded at Shaomin’s instructions.

～Jumuka～

The Gra.s.sland is already right before our eyes.

However, the opponents are still chasing aren’t they.