Vol 4 Chapter 4.3 (1/2)

Vol. 4 Chapter 4 Part 3

What the heck was that?

When s.h.i.+n breathed out a sigh of fatigue, he heard a *Ga-thunk* sound from the gate.

When he turned his gaze toward the sound, a heavy gate was slowly opening.

s.h.i.+n! Are you alright!?

From the direction of the voice, Rionne was running from the side entrance.

It seemed like she managed to open the gate safely.

Im okay, Rionne. I defeated the Gryphon somehow. What was that?

Ah, I heard an explosive sound, so I thought you had used a trump card. I was thinking about trying to escape as soon as the Gryphon was temporarily incapacitated.

The monsters in the Sacred Place didnt go outside. She seemed to have intended to utilize that rule.

Since the Gryphon was an unknown monster, it may have chased them later on, but she judged that it was possible to push it back with 2 people. There was also a possibility that the Gryphon couldnt pa.s.s through the slightly opened gate with its gigantic body.

Because its you, s.h.i.+n, although I also felt that you could defeat itIt seem I was right.

More than anything, I seem to be able to live up to expectations. Now, lets hurry up before the gate closes.

s.h.i.+n urged Rionne and moved to the outside of the gate.

Thereupon, s.h.i.+n and Rionne went outside and walked on the road a little, and exactly as Rionne said, the gate closed automatically. When s.h.i.+n s.h.i.+fted his eyes toward the sky, the magic barrier which enveloped the Sacred Place also deactivated.

What had happened? s.h.i.+n didnt understand it.

However, he made up his mind to remember this event well, and looked back at Rionne. He smiled with an expression as gentle as possible. Because she may be worried if he still had a serious face.

It was a successful escape.

Yeah, for the time being, rather than being inside, it should be much safer.

While being cautious of the surroundings, the two people were still not as tense as they were inside Kalkia.

Lets run from here on out. Both of us are upper cla.s.s Chosen Ones. Rather than looking for a village to procure a horse, running by ourselves is better and we can arrive faster.

Yeah, I have no objection. Balmel is at the eastside of the Melt Mountains, so if we run while making the mountains into landmarks, we should be fine.

Balmel was a fort city that was built in order to respond when the monsters overflowed from Kalkia. It faced both the sea and mountains, and seemed to be a convenient place to live if only there was no ma.s.s monster outbreak.

Since there was also the promise with Schnee, he decided to go toward Balmel as Rionne said. They ran at a speed that would leave horses behind.

After 15 minutes of running while ignoring the monsters which were seen occasionally, s.h.i.+n perceived an abnormal number of monsters presences in his sensing range.

Hey Rionne, is Balmel further ahead?

Yes, is there something wrong?

There are large amount of monsters ahead, is that alright?

Rionne, who heard the information which s.h.i.+n perceived, made a stiffened expression all of a sudden.

Dont tell me, the Flood is happening!?

Flood?

Around the Sacred Place, the demon essence acc.u.mulates, which overflows from the Sacred Place. Though it doesnt have influence on the human body, when the demon essence gathers to a certain amount, all of it manifests into monsters and is unleashed into the surroundings. We call that the Flood.

s.h.i.+n, by chance, had previously read about the description of the phenomenon in the library of Bayreuth.

In the content written in the book, it was a story of emergence of the low-level monsters. However no matter how much he looked, the number of monsters would cause numerous resources to be destroyed.

If the end of the monster line is still here, the front may not arrive at Balmel immediately. Ill overtake it and support Balmel.

Roger. As expected, in this situation, you wont just leave them alone, s.h.i.+n.

A commoner would have simply run away, but unfortunately, these two people were far from commoners.

Balmel wouldnt fall easily; there would be enough countermeasures as it was the only purpose of the town. However the scale of the Flood was not fixed, theres no knowing what may happen, was also written.

It was not a thing he could ignore when he heard about it; thats the character of the man called s.h.i.+n.

It seems going home will take longer.

The running Rionne, who took a detour to chase after the group of monsters, s.h.i.+n also raised his pace of running.

After a little while, a huge group of monsters were confirmed by sight.

In every Flood, there seemed to be a trend in the emerging monsters. This time it was humanoid monsters, such as goblins and orcs that became the majority.

Was it a blessing of G.o.d? Compared to the high physical ability beast type and the tirelessly golem type, their pace was considerably slow. However, the large crowd of monsters was certainly headed to Balmel.

Hmm? Hey Rionne, theres smoke rising over there, do you know what it is?

At the right front of the running s.h.i.+n, a big cloud of smoke that appeared suddenly was visible.

When he listened carefully, explosive sounds were audible, too. Apparently, there was something going on in the vicinity of the boundary between the forest in the plain and the Melt Mountains.

Perhaps, the Mist Garuda have descended the mountains. Melt Mountains is in the territory of the Mist Garuda after all. When the monsters that were born, in the Flood, were about to enter the mountains, I heard they were reduced to ashes. Thats why the monsters have no choice but to advance toward Balmel.

The Mist Garuda may not have had the intention, but they seemed to have become the figure that guided the monsters toward Balmel in a good way.

On top of that, since it killed the monsters which trespa.s.sed on the mountains, it had reduced the numbers that reached Balmel. Therefore, it was said that the act of trying to hunt the Mist Garuda in Melt Mountains was prohibited in a treaty. Because it reduced the damage of the Flood, it was outrageous to fight against each other.

Thats the Mist Garuda, huh?

A big shadow flying in the sky was reflected in s.h.i.+ns eyes as he ran while watching the mountains.

The Mist Garuda was flying leisurely while leaving an arc like a vapour trail. The mist was shaped like a bird, as shown in its name, and its level was high, ranged between 700 800. It had a lot of special attacks, and was a very powerful monster.

Oh, that is..

From the Mist Garuda which was dancing in the sky, a red mist was sprayed.

The goblins and ogres started to roll over with their whole bodies covered in flames the moment the mist touched them.

It was one of the special attacks of the Mist Garuda, Fog of Flare.

If you didnt have resistance to a certain level of flame attribute, you could receive an abnormal status where your HP decreased by 10% per second and die in 10 seconds. It was even said that the setting in the game may be wrong, as it was the fog of death that burnt many players to death, although it was the monsters being roasted this time.

Anyway, why is it that the monsters still go in even though they know they are going to be burned?

s.h.i.+n thought of such things, looking at the monsters which kept on diving into their own death.

The monsters that emerge from the Flood tend to have significantly lower intelligence. Thats why they charge until the last one standing.

Indeed. The monsters which were born from the Flood, seemed to be different from ordinary monsters.

While wis.h.i.+ng that the Mist Garuda burned the monsters as much as possible, s.h.i.+n and Rionne decided to leave from that place.

s.h.i.+n and Rionne ran on the plain as they overtook the group of monsters which were previously ahead of them and became a black wave.

The map which was projected onto s.h.i.+ns view when he pa.s.sed the group of monsters, displayed only a bright red marker without any gap where the monsters were. It was too crowded, and the distinction of the individual was difficult, too.

Is it always such a large crowd?

Maybe. I think there are various kinds of scales in the Flood, but I dont remember it. The number of monsters were a bit more than when I partic.i.p.ated in the battle once. It would be nice if there were fewer to be considered

Rionne probed into her memories while remembering the scene from that time.

What Rionne talked about for a while was the story where she merely drove a sword into the emerged monsters, and repeatedly killed them. This Flood felt larger in scale than the one at that time, Rionne added at the end.

Even if Rionne knew strong soldiers were there to protect Balmel, her feet naturally increased the speed.

I understand your feelings, but youre pus.h.i.+ng too much, Rionne.

Seeing Rionne who had shortness of breath, s.h.i.+n called for a break.

No matter how much an upper cla.s.s Chosen One Rionne was, her stamina was not unlimited. Before arriving at Balmel, theres no meaning if she got completely exhausted and couldnt move.

Lets take a break for a moment on top of that hill. We already pa.s.sed the leading group of the monster too. Rest for a little bit.

But! Well, sorry, youre right, s.h.i.+n.

Rionne was probably trying to say that she still can go on, but she noticed her own state as well.

If this goes on as it is, she would run out of energy in the middle of the way. Since they kept running at a high speed, the monsters group was already quite far behind. Even if s.h.i.+n and Rionne arrived at Balmel, several days could be expected to pa.s.s before the monsters reached them.

Considering their pace, it was reasonable to rest here, because there was still a distance to cover to get to Balmel.

Its called a fort city so havent they already repelled the enemy many times over?

While they were on break, s.h.i.+n asked about Balmel.

If its a city built for Flood control, a military unit with reasonable equipment should exist.

It is indeed, but it wont finish without a small number of sacrifices. Moreover now, among 3 upper cla.s.s Chosen Ones who should protect Balmel, one is absent.

Is it okay to be absent as the main part of defense?

It seemed there was something at the church, that he had to guard a certain person. Geez, what is the church thinking about?

Rionne frowned as she couldnt understand it.

The fort city according to Rionne, apart from being the Flood breakwater, had received a dispatched upper-cla.s.s Chosen Ones from the church and the neighboring countries. Because the fort city was inferior in terms of numbers, it was a strategy to compensate with quality.

However this time, since the church has stimulated a talk about pulling out a Chosen One at their own discretion, objections flooded from various countries.

(The church, huh?Is it by any chance, that guy?)

Hearing Church and A certain person, a figure of aknightwho damaged his wagon during the journey to Falnido came to s.h.i.+ns mind.

In this world, it was quite common that the actual status differ from the height of a level. However, a high-leveled person was still limited. The knights at that time, especially the man who destroyed the wheels of the wagon was level 239. It was higher than the present Rionne.

It was no more than a possible story, but if its the truth, it would be necessary to add restraints to the priest who threatened the knights.

What about the other two? Will they able to pull through somehow?

The combination is not bad. The other two are a magic swordsman like me and a mage. If they cooperate with the high-leveled adventurers who are in Balmel, they would never lose as long as there is no accident. The problem is the number of victims.

How far could the enemy be reduced by magic skills of the mage, was the key, Rionne murmured, and drank water.

Even though how much the mage was called a Chosen One, a skill couldnt be released forever.

Though it depended on ability and skill, there was also a limit in range a person could cover.