12. Monster banquet ~ Stampede ~
- - The 120-year history of silence has been broken, the threat of stampede comes to Dallas on this day.
- Dallas Adventure Guild -
Dan, Sarah, Garwin and Lisa have arrived at the adventurer guild which seems to be crowded with adventurers reading the emergency request posted on the board.
【Emergency Request】
· An adventurer over adventurer rank C should respond to stampede as an emergency request.
· Partic.i.p.ation by adventurers below rank D shall be permitted at their own risk.
· An adventurer who wants to avoid the emergency requests shall pay 10 platinum coins.
· The scale of the stampede coming from the time of mourning labyrinth is about 5,000 demons.
· Adventurers that qualify for the emergency request are to a.s.semble at Dallas north gate and are encouraged to subjugate monsters coming from the northeast direction as they see fit.
※ The northwest direction will be handled by the lords’ private soldiers and security guards.
· Remuneration is determined by the number and type of subjugated monsters of each adventurer has recorded on their guild card.
When the four finished reading the request, after saying her farewells to the other three, Lisa spoke to the guild receptionist about avoiding the emergency request handed the 10 platinum coins and rushed out the guild.
The remaining three looked at each other then ran to the north gate with a purpose.
The three did not notice someone observing them leave the guild.
It might have been a different future if they noticed.
◆
Airi and I waited for Lisa"s return in the garden.
I had a bad feeling but because I thought that I could not do anything about it, I decided to talk to Airi in order to distract myself.
When while I moved my line of sight to Airi, I felt restless and uneasy.
When I tightly gripped my hand, Airi displayed a forced smile.
Whilst I was doing that, I see Lisa running over here.
When we joined Lisa, we hurried off to the south gate.
I was able to escape Dallas without problems.
◆
- Dallas north gate -
The three people, Dan, Sarah, and Garwin, got to the north gate without problems and headed northeast.
Many adventurers are preparing for battle in the vicinity.
There were 500 adventurers gathered due to the emergency request.
Monsters were in the line of sight of the adventurers.
Goblins were the largest species of monsters spotted.
Goblin leader, goblin mage, goblin general, goblin knight, goblin lord and other high-rank species are expected to be attacking soon.
There are orcs, ogres and various other monsters too.
Dan, Sarah and Garwin saw the lord"s soldiers to the west.
In order to protect the city of Dallas, like the adventurers who received the urgent request, the soldiers of the lords are gathered. There are 2000 of them are at the ready.
「There are 2000 soldiers are there not?」 Dan spoke with a little delight in his voice.
「Oh, no.
With this, the stampede should be able to be quelled with little problems.
Although damage may be considerable……」
Garwin agreed with Dan’s opinion.
「That"s right.
After that, it would be figuring out how to escape……」
Sarah thinks it is possible to escape safely.
「Losing the monster material is a shame but there are more important things than that.」
When a person defeats a monster, the level rises by absorbing the magic that flows out from the nucleus, but a small amount of that magic is also absorbed by the guild card.
For that reason, guild cards of those who have killed monsters have defeated monsters listed on their guild cards.
Due to those recorded specifications, the monsters you kill get marked as yours.
For parties, after gathering everyone"s share, loot is shared among members according to common sense.
Dan called out to Sarah and Garwin to rouse them up.
Of course, Sarah and Garwin respond.
「Yoshi! Everyone absolutely must not die!」
「Yes! Of course!」
「Un, un, I will not get done in by such monsters - - 」
Dan beckons to the two and speaks to them in a whisper.
Sarah and Garwin nodded.
◆
- Feudal lord"s army camp -
At the back of the feudal lord"s army, Alfred watching the adventurers to the east of them.
Alfred is currently 20 years old, he got a good look at Sarah in the city a month ago, he has had a thing for the older woman for years! He told everyone that he was determined to make her his.
There are 2 more days until the deadline that he set for Dan.
However now that the stampede is happening, he was wondering if he could take Sarah away now by killing Dan. Alfred consulted his subordinates and they told him 「Leave it to us!」
◆
- Adventurers" staging area -
As various confused and disordered thoughts were going through the heads of the adventurers, the battle began.
「OK, Garwin, Sarah go get "em!」
「Oooo!」
「Un!!」
The adventurer group not only consisting of the 3 but all 500 as well as the feudal lord"s troops headed for the monsters in the west.
Arrows flew inbound from the goblin archers but Garwin used his shield to fend them off.
Diagonally behind Garwin, Dan was at the ready and Sarah was firing off magic as the rear guard.
「Horaaa!!! That kind of attack will not work!」
「Not yet!!」
「Great flames pierce thy enemies!」
Dan swings his one-handed axe, tearing up the goblins rapidly.
Garwin finished off goblins that slipped by Dan"s axe with his one-handed sword.
Sarah concentrates on attacking ranged monsters like goblin archer and goblin mage with her long ranged attacks.
「I will use wide-area magic! Dan! Garwin! Please get back!」
「Ooo!」
「I"ll not even let one get through!」
Sarah, who left the defence to Dan and Garwin, concentrated her consciousness on manipulating her magic powers.
Sarah had gathered magical powers for a while was now ready to activate wide-area magic.
「Come, oh, h.e.l.lfire of antiquity, burning h.e.l.l, manifest! h.e.l.l burning!」
Sarah caught up 100 goblins at once, causing ma.s.s screaming.
「「「「「「「「「「Guuugyaaaaaa!!!!」」」」」」」」」
The adventurers have been fighting for over 2 hours, a large number of monsters have been decreased, but the adventurers have also sustained some damage on their side.
However, since the three people, Garwin, Dan and Sarah, used potions immediately, there is still no noticeable damage to the three people.
「Well, I guess it is time to slow down the pace and think about the timing of our withdrawal.」
When Dan suggests this to the other two, Garwin makes fun of Dan and makes a tired face.
「Dan is already tired and sloppy, haahahawa」
From Garwin"s tone, you can tell he is trying to distract from fatigue by joking.
Dan said to Garwin 「Aaaa, that’s right. We will leave everything to Garwin then? 」
「Both of you are joking around! I wanted to take a break but I guess I can"t say that. The ogre general has arrived!」
The ogre general is an A ranked monster, it is a monster that is hard to defeat without an A ranked party.
However, two hours have already pa.s.sed since the battle started, and all adventurers including Garwin, Dan and Sarah are tired. In addition, it is the first time in a while that Sarah has been in a battle. The three had a hard fight clearly for those reasons.
However, as expected from A ranked adventurers, they gradually began to push the ogre general back.
Garwin defended the ogre general"s attack whilst Dan used body strengthening and aimed for the gap which happened to be the neck of the ogre general.
The three thought that the ogre general"s head flew into the air - - In that moment, it happened.
- - They were waiting for it to drop out of the air.
It was Dan"s head ……