Chapter 98: The Mountain Lodge (1)
Brita nodded hesitantly.
Despite the difference in their skin, they were of the same race, so it would be alright, right? However, she soon realized that it was not necessarily the case for others.
Humans like them also killed their own kind for a variety of reasons, including the color of their skin, their thoughts, and so on. She and Cohen almost died just now because of the other mercenaries leaving them behind to flee.
Brita gritted her teeth and stopped herself. She had to be hopeful. Instead, the others had been foolish. If they had left when they had the chance, they would not have almost died.
Brita and Cohen’s rescue was a fortunate event. If they had not met the black-haired man and his party at the bottom of the slope, they would have died. Alternatively, their fate might have been even more dire.
‘Just who is he?’
As she glanced at the man, Brita thought.
Black hair and mysterious eyes. His unusual height and size were not inferior to the orc next to him.
He did not seem dull because of his proportions. And after seeing him kill the goblins earlier, there was no way anyone could call him dull.
The man had looked like the Grim Reaper ten minutes ago. A farmer harvesting lives,
He said he was not a wizard, but the way he had stopped the goblins in mid-air and the cold axe he wielded proved that he was no ordinary person. At that moment, the man opened his mouth.
“Is the lodge far from here?”
“Yes, uh?”
“I’m asking if the lodge is far from here?”
“O, Oh, no. It’s not that far, but it will be difficult to find in the forest at night. I’ll guide you when it’s light.”
“I see. Then let’s rest for a while. You look exhausted.”
It was an unexpected offer, but Brita hesitated. They had saved their lives, but she wondered if it was okay to rest unguarded in front of strangers.
Her hesitation did not last long. The battle that had lasted from afternoon to night, carrying her heavy comrade through the forest at night, rolling down the slope, and the relief of being alive all washed over Brita.
Overcome with an unbearable fatigue, Brita closed her eyes and spoke.
“Then, I will shamelessly. . . just. . . take a little rest. . .”
Brita lay down and fell asleep. She did not care that she was lying on the bare ground without a blanket or sleeping bag.
The man, Russell, chuckled at the sight and looked back at Kai.
“What about you?”
“I’m wide awake. It’s my turn to keep watch anyway. You sleep.”
“Sure, I’ll leave it to you.”
Russell pulled two blankets over Brita and Cohen and laid down on the floor. Thanks to his coat, he did not feel the cold of the forest.
It was not that he was particularly sleepy. So he lay down with his arms crossed and stared at the sky.
Right next to him, the campfire crackled with burning wood. Above his head, lush branches and leaves covered the sky. Russell saw a sea of stars scattered like grains of sand beyond them.
Only in remote places like deserts or the Arctic on Earth could one witness such a sight. The pitch-black sky was smooth, revealing the grains of sand embedded in his skin.
Even as he marveled at such a natural wonder, Russell’s senses detected both the campsite they were at and the outside.
His magic detection and control were becoming more and more proficient. This proficiency was sufficient to halt the goblins who had earlier attacked them on the slope and caused them to float in the air.
It was only that much for now, but he might be able to use it like real telekinesis in the future. No, Russell thought that this was the orthodox way to use telekinesis.
After all, telekinesis was the ultimate use of one’s mind to levitate objects, create force fields, or wield invisible forces using magic or other powers.
Of course, there was a difference in that he used his senses to grasp and move things instead of using spells, but that allowed him to respond more immediately.
It had been a little over ten days since he had defeated the warlock Luganes and entered the forest from the plains. Tomorrow would be the eleventh day.
Calia had extracted additional red crystals from the bodies of the remaining chimeras, but there were only a few because he had already consumed a lot of them.
Even so, it was more than he had extracted from the monster wolves, and they were on their way again after Calia had recalibrated and set the direction.
However, a multitude of monsters had been attacking them since they entered the forest. They were not medium-sized monsters, but mostly small green-skinned goblins or imps, and the frequent attacks were strange even though they were at the entrance of the forest.
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
The morning came, but the forest was still dark. Because of the trees’ branches and leaves, they grew wildly to receive sunlight.
Russell’s party packed up their camp and headed for the lodge, guided by Brita. Cohen, the man, had been groaning all night, but he had recovered enough to get up and walk.
As with mountain or forest paths, the road was not flat. And the monsters targeted travelers who used such paths.
“Keeeeeeek!”
Monsters that jumped out of the bushes swung their weapons without hiding their dangling genitals.
They had green skin and a long, curved beak-like nose from the middle of their face down, slightly larger than a small child.
They had no hair, and their ears were even more pointed than an elf’s. Their eyes sparkled with the murderous intent to kill and eat their prey. Russell quickly scanned his surroundings.
The number of goblins was close to thirty. Like monkeys, they flew from branch to branch or ran low to the ground in the bushes.
A terrible smell. Monsters could not be expected to be clean. Because they defecated and did not wipe properly, they smelled of excrement and sweat.
There are so many goblins. It was not a normal situation. However, Russell’s body reacted nimbly even at that moment.
Russell had taken the javelin, battle axe, hand axe, and daggers from the bandits he had killed the other day. Russell’s hand, which had been in his coat, gripped the javelin.
And it flew like lightning, piercing the chest of one of the goblins running at him.
“Gruk!”
After that, the javelin that had passed through the goblin flew for a long time, crushing the skulls and sides of two other goblins and embedding itself in a tree. The aspen tree shook, and its leaves rustled.
“Kiak!”
The goblins did not retreat despite what appeared to be a giant’s javelin and the deaths of three of their comrades.
Despite being weaker than adult men and facing elimination if they did not act in groups, goblins managed to survive in the ecosystem of demons and demon beasts.
Their endless belligerence, violence, and tenacity. Russell and the others took up their weapons, and goblins rushed at them from all sides.
“Euryah!”
Kai let out a roar and flew left into the forest. The goblins, who were swinging on branches like monkeys from tree to tree, rushed at the orc.
Arrows smeared with poison flew endlessly from their handmade bows and pierced Kai’s skin, as befitting nimble creatures.
“Dumb-asses-look!”
Kai made himself into a porcupine, avoiding only the ones that flew towards his face, and crushed the goblins. His huge fists swung around, smashing a goblin’s skull in with every blow, spraying brains and blood.
Despite the brutal deaths happening right in front of them, the goblins did not retreat. The goblins, who held daggers in their reverse grips, lowered their bodies to find gaps in Kai’s large field of vision and slash at his ankles and Achilles tendons. They swung with all of their might.
Ting!
“Kiek?”
A large foot crushed one of the goblins, who was tilting his head and holding a broken dagger in his hand. The foot had a red greave on it.
“Kerelek!”
“Chaff!”
The captured goblins, one in each hand, kicked and struggled, emitting gagging sounds. For Kai, they were not even as strong as a young orc.
Thud.
The goblins slumped down, their necks broken. Kai threw the limp corpses and knocked down two more goblins, flashing a gold tooth and a tooth covered with a steel cap.
“Ack! I told you not to, old lady!”
━Stop wasting your time and start crafting a sword.
“Ugh!”
Aellasis clasped her hands together, looking completely different from before. The magic that bloomed from her heart flowed through a clean magic circuit and materialized in her palms.
The girl created a long, cold sword and gripped it in her hand. She did not have time to frown at the chilling sensation that wrapped around her palm, so the white-haired girl flew into the air.
“Gyaaa!”
Aellasis darted through the goblins. The ice sword instantly created a fresh wound and froze the monsters whenever it brushed against their skin.
The goblins screamed at the white, cold flowers that spread across their skin. The noise was deafening.
A suit of crimson-colored armor was wrapped around the girl’s body. It fit snugly on her small body, guiding her as she slaughtered the monsters.
━You wanted to help Russell, right? But you asked me to teach you swordsmanship first. Don’t you remember, Aella?
Aellasis screamed.
“What kind of swordsmanship lesson is this?!”
Even as she said that, her body moved faithfully. It was not that Aellasis was moving; it was closer to the armor, leading her without resistance.
The horses were the target of arrows flying through the air. However, the whirling ice sword deflected the arrows.
Even as she blocked and deflected the arrows, Aellasis could not figure out how she had moved just now.
The armor said.
━There is no better training than actual combat. Now, the next one is hiding over there and trying to shoot a poisoned dart. Remember the 8th stance? Step forward with your left foot and support your body with your right foot, then twist your upper body and thrust with all your might. Do not put too much force on your wrist. If you do it wrong, you might break it.
“Gyaak!”
Aellasis was surprisingly wearing Calia herself.
Specifically, her spell created a shadow armor, but given that Calia’s consciousness had fused with it and was assisting Aella’s movements, it was appropriate to refer to it as her.
Aellasis, who had moved her legs lightly, stretched her left foot forward in the same posture that Calia had taught her earlier. She planted her right foot firmly on the ground, twisted her upper body and shoulder to the right, and thrust forward in an instant.
A picturesque thrust emerged from the small girl’s body.
“Kiie. . . . . .”
The cold sword pierced the goblin between the eyes. Its eyeballs rolled back, and its limbs went limp.
“Euuuuh. . . . . .”
The cold blade of the ice sword transmitted a sensation of killing that made Aellasis tremble.
It was a completely different sensation than simply creating and flying ice awls or spears, or creating and spraying lightning.
She knew what it felt like to cut through the flesh and muscles of a living thing. She saw what it was like to cut through joints and blood vessels and spray blood.
When she stabbed the brain, it was like stirring watery mud with chopsticks. Every time a new sensation engraved in her mind—something she had never known or felt before—her heart raced. Thump, thump, thump.
Her whole body felt like a heart. Her palms were hot, even though she was holding a cold ice sword. No, her whole body was hot.
Russell must have been like this at first. And then he must have gotten used to it. Aellasis pulled herself together.
Even though the sensation of killing sent shivers down her spine, her body still moved well. The girl’s vision was wide, and she could clearly see the goblins, who were slightly smaller or similar in height to her, charging at her in anger at the deaths of their comrades.
━Your intake of breath should be even, and your exhale should be quiet. There is no need to be overly tense.
“Huff.”
Aellasis took a deep breath. Then she dashed forward.
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The battle axe swung its wide radius horizontally. It was a bit low. It was because the goblins were short.
The goblins’ small, mean heads flew around like toys. Their expressions, fixed until the end, ranged from pain to shock.
Russell pulled back the axe he had swung, and then swung it again with a storm-like force.
His long arms and even longer axe caused everything within a radius of nearly 10 meters to smash and bounce off.
“. . . . . H, He saved us?”
“Yeah, so don’t act up and stay still!”
Cohen pulled a one-handed sword from a goblin’s corpse and stared blankly at Russell. He was still sluggish because of the paralysis’s lingering effects.
Next to Cohen, Brita swung her sword in the same way. The trajectory bent the arm of one of the goblins strangely. It was because the condition of the blade was so bad that it was almost a blunt weapon.
“Hup!”
The blade penetrated the goblin’s skull with a cracking sound. It was closer to just forcefully pushing it in.
It is not a skill nor a technique, but a desperate struggle.
With difficulty, she extracted the sword that had become lodged in the skull. Brita and Cohen looked around. There were no longer any monsters. Russell had killed them all.
Russell was clean, while the two of them had blood, entrails, and filth from the monsters smeared all over their armor and skin.
It was obvious. The monsters hadn’t even had the chance to approach him before they were split apart at the neck or upper body by his blade.
The battle was over. None of the goblins had managed to escape.
Brita gulped at the sight of the monsters that had been trying to run away suddenly freezing in their tracks when Russell reached out, then being dragged over and having their necks split by his blade.
None of them were injured. Even Kai, the target of the arrows, only slightly bled after removing the arrows. He said that only the tough skin on the outside had been slightly damaged, and he had not been poisoned.
Aellasis was completely exhausted and was kneeling with her hands on her knees, panting. There were about ten goblins lying dead around the girl.
The fact that she could perform this well without any prior physical training showed the potential that the girl had.
“Can’t you walk?”
“No, I can walk.”
Aellasis responded vigorously to Russell’s question. He chuckled and carried Aellasis to Kry.
“Let’s go. Brita, continue guiding us.”
“Y, Yes. I understand.”
After climbing and descending, They came to a wide-open clearing. The ground was hard-packed.
The lodge was large. It was not as large as a village, but it seemed to be a fortress.
Armed men were patrolling in front of the high palisade, and behind them was a watchtower that was taller than the palisade. In the watchtower, there were people holding bows with arrows loaded, looking over the area they were in charge of.
The torches placed at regular intervals made the lodge bright even in the dark forest.
A gatekeeper reached out his hand as Russell’s party approached. He was a man wearing quilted armor and an iron helmet, holding a long spear. He said.
“Are you mercenaries?”
“We are, and the people behind us are travelers.”
When Brita said this, the gatekeeper’s gaze turned to the people behind.
“Huh? Now what’s that?”
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