Volume 2 Chapter 12 (1/2)

Through An Onlooker's Looking Glass

「Hey Dot! One of theoblin dashed passed Barkas as he used his large two handed sword to slice another in half The e that functioned as the party’s rear guard

At first, it’d aloblin would succeed in its assault, but it didn’t Dot reacted to Barkas’ shout and et in its way and fend it off before it could cause any harm

「Your turn, Terry!」

Dot deflected the tree branch the goblin was using as a club and took a step back as he signaled one of his party’s other members to attack

「I’m on it already! Stones of ice, freeze my foe,『Ice Bullet』!」

Terry i off a series of ice-based projectiles at the goblin the moment the other man parted frooblin ended up croaking like a Frog before collapsing with a giant gaping hole in its chest Naturally, Barkas hadn’t just been sitting around He contributed to his tea the battle

The three ather theoblin ears were items of value, as they served to provide evidence of and function as a counter for one's kills

Barkas’ group had already been out hunting for quite so passed its peak As one could expect, they’d gotten quite the haul In fact, the three goblins they just killed had pushed theot a pretty good haul, ht as well take a break and eat Seems like it’s ’bout time anyways」

「Whew Finally」

「Man, Terry, you sure don’t got any stamina Sucks to be you, but we’ll still have to keep on theplace a bit earlier in the day S’just up ahead」

Dot smirked at Terry as he lead the rest of his partyhe discovered earlier in the day

Upon arriving, the party’s rabbed their Lowest Grade Ite, and withdrew from it a few provisions: some black bread and several pieces of meat, both of which were of the dried variety

「So why didn’t we just kill them the moment they stepped foot in the forest anyways? I ht?」

「What are you, stupid? Use that Godda theoblins for us first Two birds, one stone and all that, you know? Besides, we’d probably look real fishy if we didn’t at least hunt ourselves a good few goblins, y’know?」

Barkas poured a bit of water out fro down on a piece of dried o too far We’ll lose by default if we don’t get back by the end of the day Not like we need to wander off anyways, plenty of ood number of them」

Terry nodded as he spoke

「You e round the foot of the tall ass ue demon a few years back At least that’s what people claimed when its residents tried to invade Erumia, the nearest town Apparently what actually happened wazzat they’d been affected by some sort of curse and brainwashed shi+t caused them to totally lose theirthey saw No one was able to figure out exactly how to fix 'e exterot wiped off the map You'd think that's where the story would normally end, but there's more There’s also that rumour as well, you know, the one that’s made it so that the only adventurers that ever couild decides to send by every once in a while? Yeah, that one Thanks to all the flak, everyone pretty much stays the hell away Makes it pretty da to look around s he'd heard and reiterated them to his companions

「I see… But what did you mean by that rumour?」

Terry tilted his head in an expression of confusion as he took another bite ofless attention to all the fancy ic items you like, and more to the stuff people around you say Cause like, you know those villagers ere just talking about? Everyone says that their souls wander and haunt the forest we’re in right now, and that running into one will get you one helluva curse People’ve stopped co here ever since」

Dot's explanation caused Terry to sigh

「That’s bullshi+t I’d believe you if you said that their undead corpses wandered around, but their souls? Seriously otta be bullshi+t」

「There’s actually more to it than just the ruoblins and green boars There aren’t any areas of interest, and the village being gone er An e adventurers, y’know? The only reason you can find lots ofones, so it basically ain’t good for anything other than newbies that’re lookin’ to gain experience Even then, reen boars in the forests near Eru his approval of to Barkas' logic

「If anything, we should be glad they chose this of all places Makes it way harder for people to figure out that we did them in」

「Isn’t it about time for us to you know, do it now? I’ve eaten upseveral times in a quick succession Let’s just kill ’eirl cry already We’ll have to kill her after, so let’s hurry it up already I want hed as any douchebag would while i as to co her off to so after we kill the twobusy when there’s monsters around if we really wanna have fun」

「Don’t be forgetting about the staff, you hear? It is technically e're actually after, y'know?」

「「Yeah, yeah, we know」」

「Well, least you guys kno to ht I’m sure you you already know, but, kill the kid with the staff first Catch hiuard if you can They’re still fresh and inexperienced, so the rest of 'eet one of ’eet the lanky one Crush his feet, make it so he can’t use ’em You can probably just leave hiht there and then」

「Huh? Why not just kill hi your head, are you?」

Terry gazed at Dot hat could only be described as a deliberate look of aet it」

「「It irl, you h the clearing as Dot’s companions cackled to their hearts' content

「Yeah, I really don’t get you two S’not so that turns me on, but whatever floats your boats」

「You knohat’d be just perfect? What if she betrayed her ed for us to let her live? That’d just be the God da her kill hiht not be possible if he’s ordered her not to betray hi into this whole thing, not that Ias you leave her nape unscathed」

Dot did to Terry as Terry had done to him earlier and spoke in a bit of an exasperated tone whilst shrugging his shoulders He remained silent thereafter because he’d added to the conversation all he intended to

There was an inevitable bit of danger associated with not killing the lanky swordsman, but he was a fresh newbie that’d literally only just becoured that they need not be too careful so long as they killed the ht, sounds like a plan Let’s finish eating so we can carry it out」

Only then did Dot, the party’s scout, realize that so was amiss

「shi+t…!」

He raised his voice and desperately attempted to shout in order to warn his party of his sudden realization

But he didn’t e to fulfill his duty as the team’s eyes and ears

It’d been a pointless effort in the first place He wouldn’t have been able to inforer in tih alert That was just how fast it’d all happened At first, Dot had thought that he’d only felt a gentle breeze, but his instincts immediately had alerted him that it was much more than just that

A translucent, white ss the moment the breeze passed by, and pro them of their ability to rowth

「We’ve… been hit with a paralyzing… poison…」

（shi+t! shi+t!! Did we get jumped by Paramoths? damn it! Why the hell would monsters like them be in a place like this!? Wait, were their scales even capable of working this quick…!?）

The strange mist that assaulted the three vanished as quickly as it’d appeared It als i them

「shi+…t… My body… won…t lis…ten… to… me…」

「This is bad, Barka…s… I can’t… even lift… a finger…」

「Wait just a sec… I’ll help… you guys up as soon… as I take an antidote…」

Dot and Terry were just flat out down and out, but Barkas was still capable of a certain degree of action None of the three knew exactly why this happened to be the case, but they presu to do with Barkas’ superior stats or, more simply, his position at the time of the attack

（God damn it! Come on Barkas Move! Move…!）

The party’s leader cursed as he pushed his body to its limits in an attempt to to e to stretch his right ar he had at his waist He couldn’t help but feel frustrated and i far too slowly Even the act of grabbing the Potion of Detoxification he’d been looking for had taken ages in and of itself

（Coht the potion up towards his face The brute paid as much attention to his hands as he possibly could; he took extra care in order to ensure he didn’t drop his precious lifeline

「Al…right…!」

And then, after what felt like an eternity, he finally h to his face for it to actually be visible

「Annnd cut It’s a real shaot」