Once we reach the place where the simple lodging house was, we get a good idea of the scope of the damage.
The gate where we stopped before entering the ruins has been destroyed, and what’s left is on fire.
There are many people wounded, and it looks like some are dead.
I don’t know how long it’s been since the attack started, but I feel like it hasn’t been that long since Slayn received that message warning of an emergency situation.
If the damage is so widespread, does that mean the enemy is very strong? Or were they really caught off guard?
“Sora, there.”
I look to where Mia is pointing, and see Joseph. He’s on the ground and not moving. Once I get closer, I see blood pouring from a large cut.
But he’s still breathing, just barely. His chest is moving up and down just a little.
Mia crouches and casts heal while I pour a potion on the wound.
The wound closes quickly, but even though he’s awake, he’s still not moving. Is it because he lost a lot of blood?
“Drink this. It’s a potion.”
It’s actually blood-forming medicine, but I don’t have time to explain now, so I just say it’s a potion.
“T-thanks.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. I just know we were attacked all of a sudden. At first it was monsters, but then humans appeared.”
According to Joseph, they were fighting back the monsters that suddenly appeared, when a group of humans appeared from the opposite direction and attacked from behind.
The gate was broken, and they tried to catch the invading bandits, but he was wounded as they tried to counterattack.
“Take these. Use them if you find any wounded people.”
“Hey, are you sure? And what are you going to do?”
“We’re going to beat back the invaders, I guess?”
I use Presence Detection, and catch a few weak reactions. Should we help them first?
I’m about to step forward, but stop, and jump back. Magic explodes on the ground, and raises a cloud of dust.
I look up, and see a man standing between monsters.
I stop completely when I see him. He has a mask, and black hair like me.
“Eh… You dodged that. Not bad. And… I thought it was just some nothing order, but I found something I wasn’t expecting!”
The man opens his mouth widely, and howls with joy.
“An elf! Who knew I’d find one here! And… More importantly, number thirteen! Weren’t you dead?”
I’m dumbfounded for a moment, but his anger filled yells bring me back.
What did he say? Elf? I peek over at Chris, and her transformation is working. Does that mean he has Appraisal? And she has equipment with Appraisal Obstruction too.
And he said number thirteen while looking at Hikari.
If he knows that, he’s probably from Elesya… And one of the people doing dirty work for them in the shadows, like Hikari was.
But that leaves me to question why someone from Elesya is here.
“Well anyway, we’ll just have to neutralize you. Do it!”
Exactly. We can ask questions after we neutralize you.
But who is he giving orders to? My question is immediately answered when the two tigerwolves next to him attack.
I stand in front of them, and Sera stands next to me with weapons in hand.
Rurika quickly unsheathes her weapon too, and moves to the side to support, but Hikari is slow to react. Actually, she’s not moving at all.
And the movements of the tigerwolves are weird too.
I try to block an attack and counterattack, but I can’t kill its momentum, and it pushes me back. I’m not blown away, but I’m late to react because it’s stronger than I expected.
It looks like Sera’s the same. She also tries to counterattack, but it dodges.
“Sora, these are stronger than regular tigerwolves.”
It’s not like individual monsters are all exactly the same, and they can get stronger by growing and evolving, but in those cases, there are little changes in their appearance. I don’t see any of that in the monsters in front of us.
Then why? I cast Appraisal on the man, and see the reason.
Name – (Shuuza ) / Job – (Spy [Monster tamer]) / Race – Human / Level – (46) / Condition – (—)
Monster tamer means he can form contracts with monsters and put them to work. And make them stronger.
So the monster tamer is correcting and making them stronger? That means we should neutralize Shuuza first, but he’s not going to make that easy for us.
Once Shuuza sees us block the attacks of the tigerwolves, he calls more monsters. Two orcs.
We don’t have the numbers. Maybe we could buy time and deal with them if Hikari was moving, but we can’t even do that.
“Rurika and I will handle the orcs. Sora, take down the tigerwolves first.”
I turn and see Chris has undone her disguise, and it looks like she’s going to use spirits to attack.
Mia is going to protect Hikari. I don’t feel completely sure about this, but I create two golems and send them over there to help them.
I can tell by their movements that they’re not going to take down any monsters, but they can at least serve as shields.
I swing my sword, and focus on the tigerwolves. I’m pretty proud of the fact that I’ve been fighting while also dealing with those other things by using Parallel Thinking.
Now it’s time for us to counterattack. I drink an EX mana potion, and start attacking.
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Thanks for the treat.
So someone from the evil kingdom is making a move. Looks like she’s frozen in shock or is it to do with the bad memoir
He should use Transfer to behind the tamer and take him out.