Book 3: Chapter 20: Captain's Resolve and Curiosity
As the merchants were busy arranging the wagons and carriages into a circular formation to defend from all sides, Lone had used the Blood Clone floating around in his veins to fly above the makeshift battlement directly above its centre.
He was sitting in a cross-legged position while Breena and Sophie were at his side, both of them standing on a barrier Sophie had conjured. The Blood Clone assigned to protect Sophie floated around her head peacefully and it was ready to block any and all attacks made against her.
Breena, instead of looking apprehensive and perhaps scared as Lone had expected, appeared to be excited and almost worried as if she might miss a coming opportunity.
"What do you plan to do when the stampede arrives? It is only 4,000 metres away now," Sophie asked.
Lone pursed his lips. "Hopefully, nothing. Call me paranoid, but I'm worried this may have something to do with Zel. I don't see why he'd resort to using such weak animals against us unless it was a diversion."
Sophie frowned. "It is not paranoia. Until he is dead, it is safe to assume any threat originates from him and we would be wise to treat them as such."
He nodded. "Exactly. So, we'll do nothing. If anyone is about to die, I'll step in or you will if I can't save them in time. My only viable ranged attack has limited uses so it'll be on you to do that, if you don't mind. This only applies if you haven't figured out if something more is connected to this like mind magic or something."
Sophie wore a reluctant expression. "For the sake of the quest, we will do so. We would rather not waste MP on nobodies if we can avoid it, but we will do our best to prevent any lives from being lost."
That was all Lone could ask for. "Thanks. Oh, and if you don't sense anything out of place, grab two F-ranked monsters and bring them to me, will you? For Breena."
The young teenager's eyes widened in surprise while Sophie sighed. "Fine."
A few more minutes passed before Roderick retrieved two metal plates from within his own spatial treasure - a simple wooden bracelet of some sort. These plates were covered in what looked like enchanted runes to Lone's untrained eyes.
The Flint Wolfkin's face was filled with resolve as he retrieved a dagger from his belt and cut the palm of his hand open before smearing his blood over the plates. They then flared to life, creating two overlapping bubbles around the carriage and wagon fortifications.
"That's cool. Defensive enchantments that activate with the user's blood? Reminds me of the idea of formations from cultivation stories," Lone wondered aloud as he peered at the top of the barriers that could be seen only a few metres below his own position.
His eyes then drifted to the all-female adventure group, the Downtrodden Dancers. Seven of them were D-rankers, one was an E-ranker and two were C-rankers. They were positioned just outside of the formations like he and his group but they were obviously on land and were facing the direction the monsters would be coming from.
Two of them were doing something to the ground. Maybe they were using magic to make traps. Sophie likely know with her Mana Sensing but Lone didn't care enough to ask given she was busy looking for signs of Arch Devil Zel.
"I wonder how they plan to deal with the stampede. Won't they all die without our help? They'd need to kill over 30 each to beat it. Unless these barriers beneath us are more than just defensive," Lone wondered aloud. "How far now?"
"2,000 metres," Sophie replied. "You might be able to see them in the forest if you focus."
Lone squinted his eyes and slowly nodded. "You're right. Yeah, these adventurers are fucked if we don't step in. Let me know the second you're sure Zel isn't involved, at least as best as you can."
"Just our luck," the leader of the Downtrodden Dancers, Isley, grumbled to herself. "The biggest monster stampede I've ever seen in my life and we somehow have to fend it off ourselves since that mad fucker is just floating up there."
Not only was she justifiably pissed, she was also jealous. Any skill that let the host fly like that was bound to be powerful and hard to master, let alone earn.
"You think he and his partner won't help us?" the only other C-ranker of their group asked her.
Isley laughed. "As if. They seem the type to do a job and nothing more. They're getting paid to protect the convoy. Maybe they'll only stop any monsters that try to break the barrier. They have no obligation to fight the monsters off like we plan to."
"I don't think the traps will be enough. There's too many monsters. We can maybe kill a hundred of them, and that's not to mention how many of us would need to die for that. I think we should run," her fellow C-ranker replied.
The only E-ranker of the group spoke up and said, "I-I think we'll be fine."
"Why?" Isley asked.
"U-Um, well, they aren't nervous at all and they could tell the monsters were coming from so far away. I-I think if they wanted to, they could stop the stampede immediately. S-Sofia's barriers seem really strong and, um, I watched Lone's fight with Prince Keining. He's supposed to be a B-ranker but he fights like an SS or SSS-ranker. I, uh, don't know why they aren't acting right now, but they wouldn't let us die intentionally. He's a gold-silver plate and she's a silver-plate. Anyone at s-silver or above has passed the exam, right? That means they'll look out for us if they can since we're all adventurers," the short girl with a longbow answered. "No one wants to be accused of being the cause of a member of the g-guild dying, directly or indirectly."
"We don't have a grudge with them either," a D-ranked dancer added.
Another said, "And we shouldn't run no matter what. We want to work for this merchant band long-term, don't we? Fleeing would make that impossible and who knows what kind of connections a well-established merchant has. It could ruin us."
Isley tightened the grip on her spear before she sighed. "I hope you're right, Bethany," she said to the E-ranker.
Just then, Lone's voice filled their ears as he shouted, "Here they come! From the tree line!"
Isley took a deep breath and her legs almost gave out when she saw the sheer amount of monsters pouring out of the forest like water from a river.
Knowing there would be hundreds of monsters was very different from seeing hundreds of monsters. The average monster at D-rank strength was many times stronger than a D-ranked person.
Isley could see hundreds of such monsters and a few dozen of the beasts were clearly stronger than that, perhaps even being B or A-ranked.
It was too late to run now so she instead used one of her skills, Inspire. "Archers, open fire! Everyone else, to me! The tighter our formation, the better!"
Some of the fear left the eyes of Isley's companions as they followed her commands.
Arrows powered by Bow Mastery and its respective child masteries whirred through the air, hitting their marks and killing or heavily wounding dozens of monsters as the projectiles kept firing nonstop.
Not long after that, the pitfall traps that were the brilliant work of Desdra and Dondra's Trap Making Mastery were revealed when the monsters rushed atop them, eager to rip the ladies and the caravan behind them to shreds.
There wasn't a lot of trap setting the twins could have done with such a short amount of time to prepare but their hastily constructed pitfalls still managed to kill around ten monsters, including one of the stronger-looking ones.
"There's still so many..." Isley's heart felt just as heavy as her knees did. She didn't even pay any attention to the system notification she was getting.
With a very short moment to collect herself, a resolute fire entered the woman's eyes. With her spear in hand and her sisters at her side, she yelled, "If we die today, we die as warriors!"
"Ah, no one's dying today," she heard a clear and entirely too calm voice saying.
Lone Immortus had appeared right in front of her group, shocking and throwing them all off. The army of monsters was mere metres away from them. Not even a second was needed before they would crash into them all and crush all ten members of the Downtrodden Dancers to death.
All Isley saw was a blur and then the next thing she witnessed was every remaining monster's head getting separated from its body. All except for the creatures that resembled foxes and a few very weak beasts, all of which were held in place by strange green barriers.
The blur disappeared and Lone was standing in front of them again, all nine of his tails dripping with blood. "Sorry for cutting it so close. Had to make sure this wasn't a trap. Well, I'm sure you all would have survived a bit longer but we all gotta earn our pay here, eh? Great marksmanship and trap laying, by the way, You gals are talented."
Isley was too stunned to move. She didn't know if she should be horrified and fearful or thankful and relieved. Maybe all four? All she managed to say in response was a weak, "T-Thanks?"
Status Name:Lone ImmortusSex:Male Age:25Level:412 [+12] SpeciesFoxkinRank:B Race:Golden Foxkin HP:224,710/230,740 [+6,030]SP:138,000/138,000 [+7,010] MP:447,720/447,720WF:1,300/1,300 Basic Stats Strength:9,562 [+732]Vigour:13,800 [+701] Dexterity:7,512 [+408]Agility:8,441 [+576] Vitality:23,074 [+603]Luck:1,542 [+7] Secret Stats Charm:209Charisma:225 Magic Power:44,772
'Only 12 levels? Do levels need more, what, experience or something, stronger opponents or more vivid experiences as you rank up? Would make sense... Still, nice haul of stats,' Lone thought to himself. 'Gotta get Soph and Sophie to keep an eye out for more stampedes if this is a common thing, even ones not targeting our caravan what with gains like these. Can test my freshly unsealed and new magic skills next time too.'
"You ladies good to get to work on taking any of the valuables that are in the headless corpses out of them? You can have 20% of their value if you manage that and the storage for me. You can keep the bodies entirely if you agree to train with me and my companions when we have free time," Lone suggested to the Downtrodden Dancers.
The leader, Isley, didn't hesitate to reply with, "We're more than happy to train with you for such a profit but... why would you want to do that with us? You seem plenty strong enough."
Lone smiled. "Only a fool assumes there is nothing to be learned from someone who you can beat in a fight. Besides, it'll be fun."
"Fun, huh..." the woman muttered under her breath. "Thank you again for helping us and... I'm sorry for assuming the worst of you."
Lone shrugged as he walked past them towards the barriers protecting the carriages. "I did launch Mistress Fenlo and then it looked like I and my friends would just float up there with no intentions to help you guys. Lack of foresight on my end in the first one and a lack of communication between our groups in the second. Can't blame ya for either instance."
He kept walking, leaving the women and just as he was about to be within touching distance of the formations bubbles, they disappeared and whatever power that was keeping them active returned to the two plates at the centre of the fortifications.
Rodorick approached Lone, the magical plates in his now bandaged hand. "That was... messy."
Lone laughed. "Haha, I guess it was, huh? Didn't want to damage any organs though so cutting off the necks seemed wiser."
The wolfkin glanced at Lone's nine blood-covered tails before asking, "Are they still sharp?" Clearly, he knew of the Golden Foxkin's racial skill.
"Oh yeah. The skill lasts for 20-minutes. Don't worry though, I have perfect control over 'em. You know how tails work," Lone said, gesturing to the man's own fluffy limb.
Rodorick seemed to be mulling over something before he sighed. "I don't forgive you for what you did to my wife but... thank you. You're more than welcome as a guard of this convoy. I won't try to convince Fenlo to ask you to leave anymore."
"As if I would have ever agreed," the woman snorted as she approached while holding Little Rinrin. "Thank you, Lone. I knew you were the capable sort. The Downtrodden Dancers did very well too. I'll need to reward their bravery."
"You're more than welcome, Mistress Fenlo, and thank you for coming around, Master Rodorick," Lone said with sincerity.
It left a warm feeling in his chest to resolve the tension between himself and the leader of this merchant organisation. It was an honest mistake tossing the woman up with the carriage. If he'd been more attentive with his ability to sense a person's strength, he'd have seen Mistress Fenlo in there with his aura before he had performed his little show.
Forgiveness was not necessary but understanding he meant no harm and a genuine compromise that benefited everyone sure felt great.
Lone's curiosity decided to potentially make things awkward between him and the wolfkin man once more. "Can we talk about your daughter while everyone else prepares the horses, carriages, and wagons for travel?"
A serious and suspicious look entered the eyes of the couple as Fenlo squeezed the small girl in her arms protectively.
Before they could respond to his request, Little Rinrin spoke softly in an almost ethereal tone, "He has no bad intentions and only wishes to learn why it was I could convince you to trust him about the stampede."
"Fen, take care of her and the others while we have a chat?" Rodorick asked of his spouse.
She nodded calmly, seemingly having relaxed upon hearing her daughter's words. This only increased Lone's thirst for answers so he was hoping he wouldn't be told it wasn't his place to know anything.
With a world full of magical beings like Primals, djinns, dragons, demigods, Divines, Soul Oracles, Takers, eldritch horrors, and who knows what else, Lone could only speculate at what Little Rinrin truly was.
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