Chapter 273: Defense (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 273: Defense (3)
Hans Aulock would henceforth be known as Hans J.
"H-Hans...?!"
"His name is Hans...?"
The moment he revealed his name, Raven and Ainar flinched and turned to stare at us. They both knew what the name Hans meant to me.
"...I-Is there a problem?" Hans J looked startled by the sudden attention on him. I squeezed my thigh hard.
Not now. Be patient.
Frankly, I wanted to bash his head in right now and turn him into a nameless corpse. The desire dominated my mind.
Squeeze!
But I didn't have evidence that he was the traitor yet. All I had was a suspicion. Even if I explained the ominousness of the name Hans, Patzran and Ersina would not be able to accept my logic. At least right now, they were still thinking of him as a teammate.
"No, no problem."
And so I couldn't make any moves yet. Even if he was the traitor, if he had a brain, he'd just try to keep quiet until he could get back to the city. I determined that observation was my top priority.
"Huh? It didn't seem like that..."
"I said there is no problem."
"Hmm, if you say so..." Hans J touched his chin, looking uneasy. I did feel kind of bad since it felt a little like we were bullying him. "So, are you going to leave my hand hanging?"
Still, a handshake crossed the line.
"Oh, Patzran! Are you done talking?" I took my eyes off Hans J and changed the subject. It looked like those two had finished talking just in time.
"Kind of. Sounds like Drous really was from that place... I always did think there was something strange about him."
"I see."
"So, what are you going to do about that man?"
"I'm bringing him along for now."
"All right."
Surprisingly, Patzran had no objection to Nebarce's presence, although he'd almost died because of him. Was he not arguing because he thought he was my loot?
"Anyway, can we all gather around?" Anyway, once the reunion was over, Raven called everyone together. Then she started sorting through the situation with me. "The seaway is blocked by the waves so it's impossible to escape the island. It's no wonder monsters keep appearing."
"Speaking of monsters, they seem to be getting stronger. Not long ago, a Siren Queen appeared."
"Yes. I don't know what happened on this island today, but it seems we're caught up in something unusual. On that note, Mr. Patzran, do you know anything about this phenomenon?" Raven asked.
Patzran paused for a brief moment before answering. "Since it sounds like you already have a theory, I'll be honest with you. This was the reason that we visited this island." Apparently, he had heard some things from their leader, Drous, even if the others hadn't. "I don't know all the details either... But I heard we just have to hold out until the sun rises in two days."
"Luckily, that means this won't last forever." With that, Raven presented us with two choices. "Our first option is to find a good, defendable spot and hold out for two days."
"And the second?"
"Wander the island and look for our comrades. Our team hasn't found Miss Karlstein, and Mr. Patzran's team hasn't found their archer yet. If both of them are alone right now, it will only become more dangerous for them as time goes on."
I ended up chuckling at Raven's words. Why did she bother saying we had two options?
"So what will you do?"
"Of course we should go find our comrades," I answered without a moment's hesitation, and Patzran was no different.
"If I escaped safely, I'm sure Heina escaped safely too. We have to go rescue her."
We would search the island and look for our comrades first. But right when our future course of action was practically decided, Hans J rolled his eyes and joined the conversation. "Vote! Why don't we decide with a vote?"
Unbelievable.
Even if your name is Hans, you're really going to say something like that in an atmosphere like this?
He cleared his throat. "Ahem, well, it's possible there are people who don't want to do that but can't speak up."
"If you say so. Let's vote. Raise your hand if you think we should go find our comrades."
The vote proceeded straight away without a moment's hesitation, and when everyone raised their hands, Hans J reluctantly raised his too.
"That's that, then."
Barbarian democracy was invincible.
***
Step, step.
I walked at a slightly faster pace to clear the way. Behind me followed eight individuals—all my clanmates except Missha, and Patzran, Ersina, and Hans J, with whom we had made a temporary alliance. There was even the strategic prisoner Nebarce Greenhop.
At least it's eight people for now.
Assuming Missha and Patzran's team's archer joined us, it might be possible for us to clear this level somehow. The presence of a priestess was huge. If she weren't here, it would have really been impossible.
"Miss Karlstein! If you can hear me, please respond! Miss Karlstein!"
"Heina!"
Once we left the shore, we focused on finding our comrades, who had to be somewhere on the island. It wasn't an easy task. The island itself wasn't that big, but because of the dozens of monsters appearing wherever we went, we couldn't move any faster.
Crunch, chomp! Kabooom!
Currently, we were practically fighting at a standstill.
[You have defeated a Sea Giant. EXP +5]
[You have defeated a Naga Archer. EXP +5]
[You have defeated a Snake of Palpus...]
This was a change that had occurred thirty minutes ago. The ranks of the spawning monsters rose sharply, to the extent that it was difficult for even a team of eight to take them down efficiently.
Our mood was also darker than before. No one wanted to say it out loud, but the reason for the gloom was obvious.
"With so many monsters..."
There was no way our lost comrades would be all right. Even if Missha and the archer lady had been lucky enough to run into each other, the two of them alone would not be able to withstand this wave of monsters. But, so what?
"Behel-ahhh!"
Unbothered by the terrible conditions, I cleared the path with more vigor. Even if I had to swing my mace several times just to take a few steps forward, that was not a reason to stop moving. As of now, we didn't know anything for sure.
I ended up chuckling at Raven's words. Why did she bother saying we had two options?
"So what will you do?"
"Of course we should go find our comrades," I answered without a moment's hesitation, and Patzran was no different.
"If I escaped safely, I'm sure Heina escaped safely too. We have to go rescue her."
We would search the island and look for our comrades first. But right when our future course of action was practically decided, Hans J rolled his eyes and joined the conversation. "Vote! Why don't we decide with a vote?"
Unbelievable.
Even if your name is Hans, you're really going to say something like that in an atmosphere like this?
He cleared his throat. "Ahem, well, it's possible there are people who don't want to do that but can't speak up."
"If you say so. Let's vote. Raise your hand if you think we should go find our comrades."
The vote proceeded straight away without a moment's hesitation, and when everyone raised their hands, Hans J reluctantly raised his too.
"That's that, then."
Barbarian democracy was invincible.
***
Step, step.
I walked at a slightly faster pace to clear the way. Behind me followed eight individuals—all my clanmates except Missha, and Patzran, Ersina, and Hans J, with whom we had made a temporary alliance. There was even the strategic prisoner Nebarce Greenhop.
At least it's eight people for now.
Assuming Missha and Patzran's team's archer joined us, it might be possible for us to clear this level somehow. The presence of a priestess was huge. If she weren't here, it would have really been impossible.
"Miss Karlstein! If you can hear me, please respond! Miss Karlstein!"
"Heina!"
Once we left the shore, we focused on finding our comrades, who had to be somewhere on the island. It wasn't an easy task. The island itself wasn't that big, but because of the dozens of monsters appearing wherever we went, we couldn't move any faster.
Crunch, chomp! Kabooom!
Currently, we were practically fighting at a standstill.
[You have defeated a Sea Giant. EXP +5]
[You have defeated a Naga Archer. EXP +5]
[You have defeated a Snake of Palpus...]
This was a change that had occurred thirty minutes ago. The ranks of the spawning monsters rose sharply, to the extent that it was difficult for even a team of eight to take them down efficiently.
Our mood was also darker than before. No one wanted to say it out loud, but the reason for the gloom was obvious.
"With so many monsters..."
There was no way our lost comrades would be all right. Even if Missha and the archer lady had been lucky enough to run into each other, the two of them alone would not be able to withstand this wave of monsters. But, so what?
"Behel-ahhh!"
Unbothered by the terrible conditions, I cleared the path with more vigor. Even if I had to swing my mace several times just to take a few steps forward, that was not a reason to stop moving. As of now, we didn't know anything for sure.
Chomp, chomp, chomp!
I kept going.
Pop!
Blood gushed. I heard the rough breathing of my weary comrades.
Slice! Stab.
There was the disgusting squelch of monster skin and intestines being pierced. Under the din came a mutter.
"...I-Isn't it about time we stop now?" It was Hans J's voice. "Why isn't anyone saying it? Because they don't want to be the bad guy? But e-everyone already knows!"
My feet stopped on their own. Monsters were spitting saliva and charging at me even at this moment, but I turned around and headed toward the man. "Know what? Speak properly. Before I misunderstand you."
"Think logically! Don't you see that it's already too late?"
Yeah, so you wanna play the wise wizard, huh? Fine, then. I wanted to break your neck the moment I saw you, anyway. Since you've decided to spout nonsense in front of a barbarian, that should be justification enough.
Cough!
I gripped him around his neck.
"M-Mr. Yandel!" Raven screamed, alarmed by my actions.
Patzran left behind the monster he was fighting on the front lines and ran toward me. "What do you think you're doing!?" Since I was assaulting his teammate, Patzran no longer called me by my title.
"Take another step and I'll kill you." At the sight, Ainar also entered battle mode and blocked Patzran's way. Erwen was similar.
Slide.
She didn't say anything, and she continued to fire arrows at the monsters just the same. But at some point, Erwen positioned herself behind the priestess to signal that she would kill her if a fight broke out.
Raven went into a panic. "E-Everyone, stop it!" she shouted.
"Yandel, snap out of it." Mr. Bear shoved away the monsters with his large crossbow and stopped me. All of this happened in the three seconds after I grabbed the wizard by the neck.
God damn it.
What was I doing? This wasn't like me.
Slump.
I relaxed my grip on Hans J's neck and dropped him to the ground. The front line had already collapsed thanks to me, and monsters were beginning to flock toward us.
"Sorry. I got worked up there."
"...Let's talk about this later."
When I returned to the front line, Patzran didn't say another word to me, silently dealing with the monsters by my side.
"Whew..."
Just like that, we returned from the brink of civil war, but it couldn't be said that things were the same as before. While we still fought together, everyone was wary of each other. Thanks to that, our speed slowed even more. Well, at least Hans's trap stayed shut.
Missha...
Still, this was bad news for me, since I had to find Missha as soon as possible.
God damn it.
"M-Mister! It's a body!"
While we were searching the island at the speed of a snail's crawl, we encountered the dead body of a person we were looking for.
The moment I came face-to-face with the corpse, my heart dropped. I felt faint and my mind went blank. But before long, that emptiness turned into relief, because it wasn't Missha.
Chomp, chomp, chomp!
I kept going.
Pop!
Blood gushed. I heard the rough breathing of my weary comrades.
Slice! Stab.
There was the disgusting squelch of monster skin and intestines being pierced. Under the din came a mutter.
"...I-Isn't it about time we stop now?" It was Hans J's voice. "Why isn't anyone saying it? Because they don't want to be the bad guy? But e-everyone already knows!"
My feet stopped on their own. Monsters were spitting saliva and charging at me even at this moment, but I turned around and headed toward the man. "Know what? Speak properly. Before I misunderstand you."
"Think logically! Don't you see that it's already too late?"
Yeah, so you wanna play the wise wizard, huh? Fine, then. I wanted to break your neck the moment I saw you, anyway. Since you've decided to spout nonsense in front of a barbarian, that should be justification enough.
Cough!
I gripped him around his neck.
"M-Mr. Yandel!" Raven screamed, alarmed by my actions.
Patzran left behind the monster he was fighting on the front lines and ran toward me. "What do you think you're doing!?" Since I was assaulting his teammate, Patzran no longer called me by my title.
"Take another step and I'll kill you." At the sight, Ainar also entered battle mode and blocked Patzran's way. Erwen was similar.
Slide.
She didn't say anything, and she continued to fire arrows at the monsters just the same. But at some point, Erwen positioned herself behind the priestess to signal that she would kill her if a fight broke out.
Raven went into a panic. "E-Everyone, stop it!" she shouted.
"Yandel, snap out of it." Mr. Bear shoved away the monsters with his large crossbow and stopped me. All of this happened in the three seconds after I grabbed the wizard by the neck.
God damn it.
What was I doing? This wasn't like me.
Slump.
I relaxed my grip on Hans J's neck and dropped him to the ground. The front line had already collapsed thanks to me, and monsters were beginning to flock toward us.
"Sorry. I got worked up there."
"...Let's talk about this later."
When I returned to the front line, Patzran didn't say another word to me, silently dealing with the monsters by my side.
"Whew..."
Just like that, we returned from the brink of civil war, but it couldn't be said that things were the same as before. While we still fought together, everyone was wary of each other. Thanks to that, our speed slowed even more. Well, at least Hans's trap stayed shut.
Missha...
Still, this was bad news for me, since I had to find Missha as soon as possible.
God damn it.
"M-Mister! It's a body!"
While we were searching the island at the speed of a snail's crawl, we encountered the dead body of a person we were looking for.
The moment I came face-to-face with the corpse, my heart dropped. I felt faint and my mind went blank. But before long, that emptiness turned into relief, because it wasn't Missha.
"Heina...!" It was the archer belonging to Patzran's team. Patzran, who was clearing the way beside me, ran toward her, gutted. "God damn it!" After checking to see if she was breathing, he slammed his fist on the ground.
Just then, white waves of energy rippled from the center of our formation.
[Lairin Ersina has cast Destruction of Evil.]
Destruction of Evil was one of the core abilities of the priest class. You could think of it as a kind of barrier. It couldn't stop people, but while it was up, monsters couldn't get through.
"Keeeeeek!"
Put simply, we were safe for the time being. I lowered my shield and approached the body—but not the body of the archer woman. There was one more body here.
"Who is this person?" When I dragged a startled Nebarce over and asked him, he answered that it was his comrade. Thanks to that, my mind went blank again.
Just... what the hell happened?
I could accept that the archer was dead, but it didn't make sense that this guy's body was right next to hers.
"Raven, cause of death?"
"There are too many bite marks to be sure. But... It has to be the fatal stab wound on his abdomen."
So that's what did him in.
"Evidence he was stabbed by a sword, huh?" Heina was an archer, but the man had been stabbed to death? This really didn't make sense. "What about the woman? Can you tell exactly what killed her?"
"I don't know. Her side is even worse..."
"If you had to guess."
"...First, there's a wound that looks like she was slashed by a large claw. But that's also a bit strange. I haven't seen any monsters here that could leave a mark like that. It's as if she was torn apart by a large creature..."
"Any monsters come to mind?"
"There are three claw marks and there is a deep indent near the end. That's usually a wound pattern that appears when someone is attacked by a flight-type monster like a Wyvern."
"I see." This situation was getting more troubling. "That means it couldn't have been a monster."
"Yes... it seems so." Raven nodded in agreement, which was only logical, considering the bodies had also been stripped of all equipment.
"Patzran, does the woman still have whatever item her sub-space was in?"
"No, she doesn't. Someone took it."
There were two possibilities now.
Either there's one other adventurer on this island we didn't know about... or Noark's side is facing some internal conflict too.
Slap!
Nebarce looked like he was losing it, so I slapped him across the face. "Snap out of it. I have something to ask you. Can you guess who did this?"
"Carmilla and Belverson. This has to be the work of those bastards."
"Explain."
Nebarce told me that the man named Belverson used a sword, and the woman named Carmilla had a Drake as a summoned beast.
"But why did they hurt your comrade too?"
"I-I don't know. Perhaps they coveted the treasure. Maybe they even got to Lady Rainwales..."
I don't have time to take care of your mental health.
I pulled Nebarce's head up by the hair to keep it from dropping and asked a question I had glossed over earlier. "Tell me about the treasure."
His explanation wasn't particularly informative. "I don't know anything other than the fact that it's an item that's been passed down by the castellan's family for many generations. Oh, oh! And legends say that it can change the history of the user!"
Change their history? Was it really an item with that much power? Since he said that part was a legend, I'd have to take it with a grain of salt.
Anyway, it's clearly an object important enough that they sent a woman like Amelia to find it.
As such, those two had more than enough motive. Noark had also left for the outside world, after all. Procuring a big haul, creating new identities, and living in the city didn't sound like a bad plan.
"Mr. Aulock, please take care of Ms. Heina."
"Ah, leave it to me..." Hans J cast a preservation spell on the archer's corpse. Then he put the body into sub-space, wrapping up the embalmment process.
"...Yandel, so what are you going to do now?" Like the adventurer he was, Patzran swiftly shook off his grief and asked what my plans were, but I couldn't bring myself to answer. "Are you going to continue looking for your comrade?"
I knew I shouldn't, but I just couldn't say it.
"We still have some energy, but the situation will only get worse from here."
I knew that logically. Our forced march was consuming our stamina, and we now had to be wary of Carmilla and Belverson. At this point, the right thing to do would be to find a defendable spot on the island and preserve our stamina.
Then what's Missha supposed to do...?
It continued to be hard for me to make rational decisions.
Maybe this is why...
Suddenly, I had a thought. It was possible Missha knew this would happen, which was why she had pushed me away that day. If our relationship had had the chance to develop into something deeper back then, I wouldn't have even been able to think like this right now. I would have been in a frenzy, swept away by my emotions, just like with Hans J earlier.
"Mr. Yandel..."
I took a deep breath, exhaled, and slowly looked around. Raven, Erwen, Ainar, Mr. Bear—my precious comrades were looking at me with worry in their eyes. It was now time for me to make a call as their leader.
"Everyone, put down your weapons. We will rest while the barrier is up."
But even as I said those words, it felt like my insides were rotting away.
"Heina...!" It was the archer belonging to Patzran's team. Patzran, who was clearing the way beside me, ran toward her, gutted. "God damn it!" After checking to see if she was breathing, he slammed his fist on the ground.
Just then, white waves of energy rippled from the center of our formation.
[Lairin Ersina has cast Destruction of Evil.]
Destruction of Evil was one of the core abilities of the priest class. You could think of it as a kind of barrier. It couldn't stop people, but while it was up, monsters couldn't get through.
"Keeeeeek!"
Put simply, we were safe for the time being. I lowered my shield and approached the body—but not the body of the archer woman. There was one more body here.
"Who is this person?" When I dragged a startled Nebarce over and asked him, he answered that it was his comrade. Thanks to that, my mind went blank again.
Just... what the hell happened?
I could accept that the archer was dead, but it didn't make sense that this guy's body was right next to hers.
"Raven, cause of death?"
"There are too many bite marks to be sure. But... It has to be the fatal stab wound on his abdomen."
So that's what did him in.
"Evidence he was stabbed by a sword, huh?" Heina was an archer, but the man had been stabbed to death? This really didn't make sense. "What about the woman? Can you tell exactly what killed her?"
"I don't know. Her side is even worse..."
"If you had to guess."
"...First, there's a wound that looks like she was slashed by a large claw. But that's also a bit strange. I haven't seen any monsters here that could leave a mark like that. It's as if she was torn apart by a large creature..."
"Any monsters come to mind?"
"There are three claw marks and there is a deep indent near the end. That's usually a wound pattern that appears when someone is attacked by a flight-type monster like a Wyvern."
"I see." This situation was getting more troubling. "That means it couldn't have been a monster."
"Yes... it seems so." Raven nodded in agreement, which was only logical, considering the bodies had also been stripped of all equipment.
"Patzran, does the woman still have whatever item her sub-space was in?"
"No, she doesn't. Someone took it."
There were two possibilities now.
Either there's one other adventurer on this island we didn't know about... or Noark's side is facing some internal conflict too.
Slap!
Nebarce looked like he was losing it, so I slapped him across the face. "Snap out of it. I have something to ask you. Can you guess who did this?"
"Carmilla and Belverson. This has to be the work of those bastards."
"Explain."
Nebarce told me that the man named Belverson used a sword, and the woman named Carmilla had a Drake as a summoned beast.
"But why did they hurt your comrade too?"
"I-I don't know. Perhaps they coveted the treasure. Maybe they even got to Lady Rainwales..."
I don't have time to take care of your mental health.
I pulled Nebarce's head up by the hair to keep it from dropping and asked a question I had glossed over earlier. "Tell me about the treasure."
His explanation wasn't particularly informative. "I don't know anything other than the fact that it's an item that's been passed down by the castellan's family for many generations. Oh, oh! And legends say that it can change the history of the user!"
Change their history? Was it really an item with that much power? Since he said that part was a legend, I'd have to take it with a grain of salt.
Anyway, it's clearly an object important enough that they sent a woman like Amelia to find it.
As such, those two had more than enough motive. Noark had also left for the outside world, after all. Procuring a big haul, creating new identities, and living in the city didn't sound like a bad plan.
"Mr. Aulock, please take care of Ms. Heina."
"Ah, leave it to me..." Hans J cast a preservation spell on the archer's corpse. Then he put the body into sub-space, wrapping up the embalmment process.
"...Yandel, so what are you going to do now?" Like the adventurer he was, Patzran swiftly shook off his grief and asked what my plans were, but I couldn't bring myself to answer. "Are you going to continue looking for your comrade?"
I knew I shouldn't, but I just couldn't say it.
"We still have some energy, but the situation will only get worse from here."
I knew that logically. Our forced march was consuming our stamina, and we now had to be wary of Carmilla and Belverson. At this point, the right thing to do would be to find a defendable spot on the island and preserve our stamina.
Then what's Missha supposed to do...?
It continued to be hard for me to make rational decisions.
Maybe this is why...
Suddenly, I had a thought. It was possible Missha knew this would happen, which was why she had pushed me away that day. If our relationship had had the chance to develop into something deeper back then, I wouldn't have even been able to think like this right now. I would have been in a frenzy, swept away by my emotions, just like with Hans J earlier.
"Mr. Yandel..."
I took a deep breath, exhaled, and slowly looked around. Raven, Erwen, Ainar, Mr. Bear—my precious comrades were looking at me with worry in their eyes. It was now time for me to make a call as their leader.
"Everyone, put down your weapons. We will rest while the barrier is up."
But even as I said those words, it felt like my insides were rotting away.