Chapter 13
Chapter 13
A short wait later, the prepared wagons arrived.
This time, the expedition included five adventuring groups in total, including Carlos’s team and Siu’s group. Altogether, there were over fifty people.
“Get on the wagons, you lot!”
The bald man, Dudley, shouted loudly.
The members moved in an orderly fashion and climbed aboard.
“We should get on as well.”
I clapped lightly and urged my party forward. Elain, Rinsheu, and Rose boarded the wagon.
As for Morian, who was physically impaired, I supported him by the back myself.
“T-thank… you.”
His voice came out broken and uneven, as if even his throat had been damaged when he was injured.
I simply shrugged in response.
Then two hands reached out toward me from the wagon.
“Leader! Take my hand!”
“Leader! Please allow me to assist you!”
……
If I don’t take one of these hands, I feel like I’ll be cut off from this world for good that very day.
“You’re popular, huh!”
From the neighboring wagon, Dudley the bald man laughed and teased me.
Trying to embarrass me with childish jokes?
“Jealous?”
“Y-you little shit!”
Ignoring his shouting, I firmly grabbed both of the offered hands and leapt onto the wagon.
Then I sat down proudly, flanked by the two women on either side.
Dudley burst out laughing in disbelief.
“We’re moving out.”
At Kaoli’s signal, the wagons slowly began to move.
“Do well out there, Siu.”
“Yes. I’ll bring back good results.”
This was where I parted ways with Kaoli.
I bowed respectfully one last time.
Please let us both survive to meet again.
Kaoli stood there watching for a long time.
It had been about two hours since departure.
“When the hell does this end? It’s so damn hot.”
A mutter more like a complaint slipped out, but it was loud enough.
The wagon was filled more with heavy breathing than silence.
The route to the Orc Plains wasn’t particularly rough, but the weather was absolute garbage.
It was unbearably hot.
With no large trees to block the sun, the heat struck the wagon directly.
The wagon was covered with a canopy, and packed with large, sweaty men. There was no airflow at all, even with the back flap open.
On top of that, the sweat and stench made everything sticky and suffocating, piling fatigue on top of fatigue.
“Elain. Are you alright?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“What about Rinsheu?”
“I am also fine, Leader.”
Fortunately, my main members were holding up well.
Elain had endured harsher conditions in her childhood.
And Rinsheu, with her usual seriousness, simply closed her eyes and murmured that this too was training.
“L-Leader… I feel like I’m dying.”
“Is it that bad?”
“I’m going to throw up… it smells awful.”
Rose, on the other hand, was visibly suffering.
The heat and motion sickness were hitting her hard, and the smell of sweaty men around her wasn’t helping.
“Morion, please get water and motion sickness medicine from the bag.”
“U-understood.”
I had Morion hand over the medicine.
Clean water and anti-nausea pills.
“Rose, take this. Drink the water slowly in small sips. Don’t gulp it down.”
“Ugh… okay.”
She swallowed the medicine and drank the water carefully.
I moved her to my previous seat near the edge, where at least a faint breeze came in.
“Hey, weaklings! You think you can fight like that?”
A man from the opposite side of the wagon suddenly spoke up.
One from the Malcom group, I think.
I ignored him.
“Hey, I’m talking to you.”
Getting no response, his tone rose sharply.
Then he threw his helmet at me.
I tilted my head slightly and dodged it easily. The helmet rolled across the floor uselessly.
A pointless disturbance.
The patience limit of the wagon was clearly being tested.
“Bad situation.”
Tension had shifted into something more dangerous than before the dungeon entry.
Everyone was on edge.
Mental strength is stamina too. If your mind breaks in a dungeon, it’s over.
I needed to stabilize things.
“Hey. Shut it.”
“What?”
“We’re on the same side. Why are you trying to fight each other?”
“……”
I was slightly surprised.
The one who supported my words was none other than Dudley.
He wiped sweat from his bald head and frowned.
Despite his rough appearance, he understood the nature of adventuring well.
At least for now, there was no reason for allies to fight.
We could settle competition when rewards came.
I gave him a light nod of thanks.
He ignored it. Bastard.
The wagon kept moving.
The heat didn’t ease. The dizziness grew worse.
Then I saw something strange outside the window.
That thing rolling on the ground… isn’t that Malcom’s helmet?
A chill ran down my spine.
My hand instinctively moved to my sword.
Rinsheu beside me narrowed her eyes.
“Dudley.”
“What?”
“Look at that.”
“What is it— a helmet?”
Dudley squinted.
Then his voice trailed off.
The atmosphere in the wagon suddenly grew suffocating.
That helmet…
Malcom threw it earlier.
Why is it there?
“…We’re circling.”
I said it.
“We’ve already arrived in the dungeon.”
……
The wagon fell dead silent.
Everyone reached for their weapons.
Before they could act—
A voice echoed.
“You noticed.”
The roof of the wagon exploded open.
A massive green hand dropped down.
Crack—
It grabbed a head and ripped it clean off.
Blood sprayed everywhere.
Screams followed. Then more heads were torn away.
“Combat positions!”
Someone shouted.
But more hands tore through the wagon roof.
“Rinsheu! Block them! Rose, take Morion!”
“Yes, Leader!”
“Sh-shit!”
Rinsheu didn’t hesitate.
Three ethereal swords formed and sliced through the attacking hands.
The Orcs screamed as their arms were severed.
The wagon was flipped violently.
We were thrown into chaos.
“Elain, break it!”
“Yes.”
Elain drew her axe and tore through the wagon like paper.
We were launched outside.
What awaited us was pure chaos.
One wagon already destroyed. Bodies everywhere.
Orcs filled the field.
A figure stepped forward.
A shaman wrapped in a purple robe.
“Welcome. To my land.”
The voice from before.
He raised a staff adorned with a skull.
Mana pulsed.
An Orc mage.
Impossible.
Orcs shouldn’t use magic.
Yet spells poured out—nullifying ours, countering ours, overwhelming everything.
Fear spread.
People broke.
Some prayed. Some froze.
I didn’t.
I analyzed.
“…This guy isn’t in the report.”
Which meant one thing.
An unknown named entity.
The Orc mage laughed.
“I am Karsla, ruler of the plains!”
So that’s his name.
Then this was confirmed.
An unrecorded boss.
“Dudley. Have the mages attack.”
Dudley shouted.
Spells flew.
Fire, wind blades, ice spikes.
All were negated.
“…Shit, magic doesn’t work!”
Despair spread.
Karsla counterattacked immediately.
The battlefield collapsed further.
I stayed calm.
“Morion. Smoke bombs. All of them.”
“All… of them?”
“All of them.”
“Yes!”
“Dudley. We’re retreating.”
“Are you serious? There’s no path!”
“I’ll make one.”
Dudley stared at me.
Then he grinned.
“YOU BASTARD! Don’t embarrass us!”
His voice shook the battlefield.
Morale surged.
This was the opening.
“Elaine. Rinsheu. Clear a path.”
“Yes!”
They moved instantly.
Rose fired.
Boom—
One shot shattered the skull staff.
“Now! Fall back!”
We ran.
And survived—for now.
In the safety zone, Dudley spoke.
“You saved us, Siu.”
“I just did what I had to.”
People were talking about retreat.
Dudley asked me.
“What do you think?”
I looked at him.
“Do you trust me?”
“…I do.”
“Then trust me until the end.”
“I have a way to win.”
“…What?”
We are adventurers.
And adventurers don’t run from dungeons.