Chapter 197

“Ah! I’ll take it! Here’s the money!”

“Hurry, hurry, everyone!”

Guided by the kind pair I had met earlier, I followed the road and safely arrived near a small village.

At that moment, a surprisingly large carriage was parked there, and all the passengers were just boarding, about to depart.

I quickly handed over the money and climbed into the carriage, which was quite spacious for a horse-drawn vehicle.

…Can a horse really pull this thing? Or perhaps it’s some creature that resembles a horse?

“Using all 100 Rix coins, huh? That’s a bit cruel. They’re handy for change, though.”

“Oh, sorry about that…”

Inside the carriage, there were many comfortable, fixed seats, almost like a small streetcar. Judging by their clothing, the passengers seemed to be regular villagers, though some wore gear that made them look like adventurers. Perhaps some were onboard as escorts.

“Phew… I can finally relax a bit.”

I could have run on foot, but I was mentally exhausted. For now, I just wanted to sit in the carriage and let my body and mind recover.

“Hey, where did you come from?”

“Huh?”

I looked up to see a small child leaning forward from the seat ahead. About five years old, a tiny girl, apparently a beast-person with rounded ears on her head.

“I came all the way from the mountains in the back, from a country called Shijuu.”

“Wow! My grandpa and grandma live there too! Shijuu!”

“Oh, really?”

I see, it seems ordinary people can move freely here. I had thought the border area might be tense, but apparently not.

“Sorry about my kid. Sit properly, or you’ll fall if the carriage rocks.”

“Okay!”

“Haha, what a cute girl. Are you heading to the port?”

“Yes, my husband’s coming back from a long offshore fishing trip today, so we’re going to welcome him.”

“Oh, that’s nice. Good luck, little one—you’ll see your father soon.”

I had been starved for human contact, so I engaged actively in conversation, gently swaying in this smooth, fast carriage.

…Hmm, the Consold Empire seems a step ahead of Lendia in terms of industry.

“…This really is a smooth ride.”

“Oh? Are you perhaps from overseas?”

“Yes, actually. It’s my first time in a carriage from this country.”

“I see. A few years ago, they apparently summoned a ‘hero from another world.’ That hero shared all kinds of knowledge from their world, and ever since, transportation has improved at an incredible pace.”

“Wow! Knowledge from another world!”

So, summoning exists here too… I wonder if that knowledge came from the same group as Fuus. But if it’s benefiting ordinary citizens, summoning isn’t necessarily all bad.

As I passed time watching the forest blur past, I noticed a black shape in my peripheral vision, moving as if it were running alongside the carriage.

Could this be part of the “Exhaust” forest I had escaped?

Is this dangerous? Could this monster get outside?

Trying not to alert the other passengers, I quietly spoke to a man wearing adventurer-like gear.

“Um, excuse me.”

“Huh? You a rookie adventurer?”

“Something like that… Could I borrow your ear for a moment?”

“What’s up? You trying to get close to me?”

“…Look out the window toward the forest. There’s a huge shadow running alongside.”

The moment I said that, the man glanced outside, jumped up, and ran to the driver.

“Get away from the forest! Full speed! There’s a ‘Boundary Breaker’!!!”

I didn’t understand the meaning of his shout, but the other passengers clearly did.

“No! Nooo!!! Why, why!?”

“What!? Mom, what’s happening?!”

“Hurry and get away!”

Panic erupted, screams filling the carriage. The threat must have been enormous.

“Damn! Why does this happen on my shift!? Damn! I don’t want to die, I really don’t! Damn it! Driver, slow down for just a moment! I’ll jump off and buy time! Maybe it’ll chase me and ignore you, but don’t hold it against me! Damn it!”

“U-understood…! Please… stay safe!”

His resolve was clear. This monster was an immense calamity, perhaps rarely appearing. My luck alone had kept me from encountering it in the forest.

And… perhaps my conspicuous passage through the forest drew it this far. Thinking that, I couldn’t help but stand next to this man who had braced himself.

“I’ll go with you.”

“You idiot! I’m the one who should die! You’re still a kid, don’t get in front of me!”

For a moment, the carriage slowed. He must have wanted to protest, but I leapt from the carriage first.

“You fool!”

He landed right next to me.

“You came with me.”

“Damn! You suicide enthusiast! Look, it’s looking this way! I’ll draw it in, you escape—”

I ran straight toward the “Boundary Breaker,” a massive wolf-like monster.

Leaping toward a creature that must have been at least 20 meters long, as if it had emerged from myth.

Is Fenrir this big? But this one seems more evil. Its face is grotesque, with countless eyes. Its mouth is slit to the neck, and fangs jut out unnaturally.

Grotesque, evil, brutal. Truly terrifying.

“An opponent worthy of note. Come.”

I readied my spear and swallowed a vial of medicine.

[Overdose]

Doubles the effect of a consumed potion and grants additional effects.
If the potion has no auxiliary effects, increases attack and defense.
If the potion has no healing effect, increases natural HP and MP recovery speed.
If the potion is of a certain rarity or higher, boosts all stats.
Effect duration = potion rarity × 1 minute.

[Divine Radiant Ale]

Negates incapacitation three times and grants full status ailment resistance.
Effect duration = user level × 1 minute.

I was going to kill it for real. I downed the most difficult potion to make and was going to crush this massive dog.

Even without special skills, I knew how to fight a four-legged beast.

“You should stay back a little.”

“W-what are you—”

I bolted, slipping into the wolf’s reach in an instant. Using my body as the axis, I swung my spear in wide rotations, weaving rapidly between its legs as I ran.

I felt a heavy impact, my body nearly thrown off, but I could clearly feel the flesh being cut and see blood splatter around me.

“GAVAN! GAVAA!”

The monstrous creature howled in pain. I knew my attack had landed.

…This thing is absurdly strong.

The monster charged at me with slightly dulled speed, then accelerated as if diving, opening its massive jaws.

…Can I do this? Yes, I can. It’s a matter of will.

“OOOOOOOOH!”

I charged at the approaching maw with my spear ready.

Before its jaws could snap shut, I pierced through, cutting its throat as I pressed forward into the dark, bloody, and damp interior.

Despite fierce resistance, I stabbed, slashed, and forced my body through the opening I created.

And then—

“GAB… GOF… GA…”

Blood erupted skyward, raining down by gravity.

Beneath its legs, the massive wolf thrashed on the ground. Eventually, it stopped moving.

The blood kept pouring endlessly, almost as if acknowledging my effort.

“Phew… ugh, gross!”

My dazed consciousness snapped back, and I quickly moved away from the corpse just as the monster’s body dissolved into particles of light.

It seemed this truly had been a dungeon monster. Monsters in dungeons disappear like this—it’s their characteristic.

A “Boundary Breaker” must be a monster that crosses the dungeon boundary to appear outside.

“Target defeated! Everything’s safe now!”

I noticed that even the blood on me had vanished. Good… the blood must have been treated as part of the corpse.

“Amazing… amazing! Who… who are you!? You defeated a Boundary Breaker!? I’ve never heard of such a thing! Incredible… I was… I was ready to die! And then… then this happened…”

“Come now, grown-ups shouldn’t cry. Let’s hurry and catch up to the carriage.”

“Y-yeah! You wouldn’t believe it… that scene, I was the only one who saw it! Hey! You! The Boundary Breaker dropped something!”

“Hm… a drop item, huh?”

Sure enough, on the ground where it had fallen, there was something like a large shard of glass.

[Remembrance: Path of the Hero]
‘Memories of somewhere other than here hold no meaning.’
‘An irregularity that manifested due to abnormal involvement.’
‘The path of a young hero who transcended the walls of worlds.’

Once again, it was an item whose meaning I didn’t understand. I remembered a similar one dropped by a dragon boss in an artificial dungeon.

So this must have been a formidable foe…

What exactly is this? The description seems too significant for just a collectible. Maybe I should change into Shizuma’s form and examine it with Divine Eye.

“I’ll take this.”

“Of course! Alright, let’s hurry, I’m worried about the carriage—it might have toppled with all that reckless driving!”

“Calling a little girl ‘boss’ is a bit much, though.”

A little further along, we found wheel tracks veering off into the grass. They must have gone off-road to put some distance between themselves and the monster.

Following the trail with the man, we found the carriage abandoned ahead.

“Looks like it got stuck in the river. No passengers left, though.”

“Seems that way. They panicked, got stuck, and then escaped… If it didn’t fully overturn, there shouldn’t be serious injuries, but still, I’m concerned. There was a kid on board…”

“Let’s quickly find everyone.”

As we followed the river downstream, it narrowed, and we soon spotted people on the opposite bank.

“Hey!!! Is everyone okay?!”

“Yeah!! We’re fine! Are there any injuries over there?!”

I raised my voice and waved my arms widely to signal the people on the opposite bank. They seemed to notice and quickly gathered at the riverbank.

“You—you’re alive!?”

“Yeah! Did you cross the river? It’s safe now, come back!”

It seemed they had crossed the river to try to block the monster’s path, even a little.

The river was shallower than expected, and everyone waded across and returned.

“You! You’re safe!? I was so worried when you jumped out with the guard!”

“H-hey! What happened to the Boundary Breaker!? Did it give up and leave!?”

“Heh… driver, listen. I saw something unbelievable with my own eyes. The Boundary Breaker… it’s gone!”

“Huh? So it went home?”

“No, no! This girl—no, this boss here… she killed it! Right in front of me, with insane guts—stabbed straight through its mouth and throat! She completely took it out!”

“…No way. I’m not buying that story. But… it really does seem like it’s been dealt with.”

“It’s true… damn, since the corpse disappears, I’ve got nothing to prove it…”

“It’s fine, really. Oh—by the way, I pulled the carriage out of the river on the way here. Is anyone injured?”

It had sunk one wheel into the river earlier, so I’d pulled it back out.

And as expected, the creature pulling the carriage wasn’t a horse—rather, something twice the size of one. I swear I’d seen a beast like that in an old game… like a blend between a dinosaur and a horse.

“Really… the carriage is out of the river… Ah, the only injured one is that child there—she scraped her cheek a little.”

I looked toward the child. A girl was being held by her mother, her soft cheek slightly scratched and reddened. Her eyes were puffy too—she must have cried a lot.

“Hey, little one, come here.”
“…Okay.”
“Here, try licking this candy.”

I took out my now often-used drop item.

It’s basically a recovery potion, but in candy form—minus the sleeplessness that comes at night. Since it’s daytime, no problem.

If it looked like medicine, a kid might refuse it.

“Candy! Yay!”

As she popped it into her mouth, I could see her cheek healing rapidly.

Alright, that takes care of that.

“Amazing… my child’s wound disappeared!”
“Incredible… she’s not just strong, she can do stuff like this too!”
“Thank you for the candy, big sis!”

The girl didn’t seem to notice her wound had healed, but she happily ran to my feet.

I bent down slightly to pat her head—and lost my balance, falling straight toward the river.

Damn it! I was finally looking cool for once!

The river rushed up toward my face, and I hurriedly held my breath.

But in that moment—

a bell rang loudly from my chest.