Chapter 576 — The Ones Who Flee, The Ones Who Pursue
Tauro and his party were climbing a mountain in the Antas Mountains based on the information they received from the village chief in order to complete the quest to collect rare herbs that they had accepted a long time ago.
At first, Tauro suggested teleporting to a rocky outcrop that served as a landmark on the mountain. However, the chief had warned them that the terrain around it was unstable and dangerous to approach, so they ultimately decided against such a reckless method of travel.
“This mountain path leads toward the cave entrance of the ancient underground ruins for a while. Wouldn’t it be fine if we teleported to the fork in the road?” Tauro suggested, since they had traveled this route once before.
“I don’t think it’s good to rely too much on teleportation. Isn’t your usual motto that adventures are meant to be enjoyed? Ever since you learned that ability, I think we’ve been taking it a bit too easy.”Aeris said while walking the mountain path.
“Yeah, sometimes we use it in pretty reckless ways too,” Ankh agreed with Aeris.
“Ugh… You might be right. It’s fun, so maybe I’ve been using it a bit too much. Traveling is part of the fun of an adventure… Maybe we should avoid using it unless it’s an emergency?” Tauro said with a sheepish expression.
“I don’t think it’s a bad thing to use your abilities for efficiency, I often use Dimensional Corridor myself.” Ragune said in Tauro’s defense.
Since Ragune frequently used that ability to visit the dragon people’s village or Marquis Vandyne’s territory, she wasn’t against it.
“…I’m fine either way. But when it’s a new place—or while traveling—I’d prefer to go on foot.” Zion said after a moment’s thought. “
“We have Seth and the others scouting ahead and sharing their vision, so teleportation would be possible… but alright, let’s walk,” Tauro concluded as they continued along the mountain trail.
Tauro and the others proceeded along the mountain road and arrived at the fork where the road split—one direction leading toward the medicinal herbs and the other toward the ancient underground ruins they had previously visited.
“If we go left from here, that’s the direction the chief told us about. —Hmm? Someone’s coming this way from over there…?” Tauro said, spotting a human figure at the edge of his True Eye.
“Over there? That’s the cave leading to the ruins, right? Is someone from the investigation team heading back this way?”
Aeris wondered aloud. “I wonder why an adventurer would be returning right now.”
“That is strange. Based on the timeline, they should just be reaching the cave leading to the ruins and starting to clear the path. Someone’s already coming back?” Ankh said, tilting his head.
“…Seth, could I leave the rainbow grass gathering to you guys? —Yeah, please. Everyone, judging by the silhouette I can see, that adventurer looks like they’re running from something. Maybe they got separated from the investigation team and is being chased by monsters…”
While asking Seth’s group to collect the herbs ahead, Tauro analyzed the adventurer’s situation based on the movement of the silhouette barely within the limit of his True Eye and reached that conclusion.
“In that case, we should go help, I take back what I said earlier, leader. Now’s the time to use teleportation.” Ankh said.
When Ankh tells Tauro that, he urges them to form a circle, and prepared for the jump.
“Alright everyone—here we go!”
Holding hands in a circle, Tauro’s party vanished from the spot in the next instant, teleporting to the adventurer who seemed to be fleeing from something.
Just as Tauro and the others had moved, an adventurer was just sprinting downhill, gasping desperately out of breath.
Tauro recognized him. When they were traveling previously together, the man had always happily eaten the meals Tauro’s group prepared. He was an adventurer who had bragged about his ability ‘Speed’—he was confident in his ability to run away.
The adventurer suddenly noticed a presence appear in front of him and looked momentarily in despair. But when he realized it was Tauro’s group, his expression brightened for a split second.
Then his face turned serious again as he kept running straight toward them.
“You guys need to run too! They’re closing in!”
After shouting the warning, he dashed past them.
Tauro immediately checked the direction the adventurer had come from with his True Eye.
Countless silhouettes were rushing toward them.
“!? W-What is that!? What are those numbers!?” Tauro shouted after the adventurer who was quickly growing distant.
“They’re part of a monster army led by the Northern Empire’s forces! You guys run too! I was sent by the investigation team’s leaders to request reinforcements from the army!” The man shouted back.
Seeing that Tauro’s party wasn’t fleeing, the adventurer stopped briefly to warn them again.
“—okay! Leave things here to us and hurry to the army!”
“Y-You idiots! There are at least fifty of them! Everyone else who was sent as a messenger besides me got killed. That’s why you need to run too!”
With that final warning, the Speed adventurer got back to running, determined to complete his mission.
Soon after, a group kicking up clouds of dust came charging down the mountain path.
It was a unit of Olog-hai riding on Vampire wolves—seventy-five of them.
Or rather, if you count both the Olog-hai riders and the wolves separately, there were one hundred and fifty enemies.
“…Leader. This is pretty much a hopeless situation, you know?” Ankh muttered as he immediately drew his great magic sword.
“This might be the greatest crisis we’ve faced yet,” Ragune said, stepping to the very front with her magic spear and proud shield ready.
“If it’s this many enemies, then it’s my turn!” Zion declared, activating her Berserker ability. The black hooded cloak that covered her body transformed her into a large black cat.
“Everyone, I’m going to open with one of my big spells—don’t get caught in it,” Aeris said, gripping her ebony staff as she began chanting.
The Olog-hai and their wolves began spreading out through the trees beside the mountain path, attempting to surround Tauro and the others.
And then—
“…Everyone, aren’t you forgetting something?” Tauro said calmly.
In an instant, he pulled four of the fourteen four-meter rock golems from his magic storage—members of the “Rock” series—deploying them in a line stretching from the mountain path into the forest.
Then he shouted:
“Everyone, don’t get involved!”
The moment Tauro gave the warning, the Rock series golems unleashed a simultaneous barrage of high-powered shockwaves—powerful enough to pierce magical defenses—directly at the group of monsters charging toward them.