Chapter 79 : Chapter 79

Chapter 79: Somewhere Between Coincidence and Fate (2)

“These are my party members.”

After leaving the barracks, Trophin introduced four warriors.

I quickly scanned them and was inwardly impressed.

‘I was wondering how a mercenary corps with only warriors could exist.’

A party composed entirely of warriors is quite dangerous.

Since all members are close-quarters combatants, they have to stick to the enemy, which creates a disadvantage if the enemy is small.

However, two of Trophin’s party members were mid-range warriors using spears, and one, judging by the dagger at his waist, played the role of an assassin who strikes and retreats.

The only people fighting on the front lines were Trophin and one other person.

“They’re all strong.”

“Right? I raised them myself.”

Trophin thumped his chest and chuckled.

Collie looked around and asked with a puzzled expression.

“But why are they all of different races, sir?”

As Collie said, among Trophin's party members, only the one with the dagger was human.

“That’s…”

“Vice-Leader, we’ll say it.”

A Beastman carrying a thick hammer stepped forward.

“We’re the outcasts of the Derth Mercenary Corps.”

“Outcasts?”

“Unlike the others who joined by meeting the conditions, we were raised in the mercenary corps since we were young.”

“Simon.”

The Elven spearman chided him, but the Beastman called Simon didn’t pay him any mind.

“Even if we complete a quest, it’s considered an achievement with the help of other corps members. No one thinks of us as part of the main force. Since no corps member would let us join their party, the Vice-Leader took us in.”

“Huh? What kind of jackass said that?”

“Vice-Leader, I’m just telling the truth.”

“No one likes a rolling stone.”

“We have sense too, Vice-Leader. We can feel it when we’re disliked.”

As the quiet party members added their own comments, Trophin looked embarrassed and avoided my gaze.

‘I’ve stumbled upon their backstory.’

If I were thinking of recruiting them as companions, this would be information to remember.

But Trophin was an NPC with a clear affiliation, so there was no possibility of recruitment, and I didn’t want to make things any more difficult for him.

“That was a difficult question. Apologize.”

“I-I’m sorry…”

Despite Collie’s apology, Simon only folded and unfolded his pointed brown ears.

“Trophin, have you thought of a way to get to the shopping district?”

“We’ll take the shortest route from here.”

Artier and Trophin looked at the completely wrecked shopping district.

The once neatly arranged streets were now ruins with pools of blood, burning buildings, and overturned carriages.

“The fiends?”

“I don’t see any. I don’t smell them either, sir.”

“They’ve completely disappeared? Did they go somewhere else?”

There was no sign of life on the empty road.

After walking for a long time without any fiends appearing, Artier, Collie, and Trophin’s party began to lower their weapons.

“Simon, do you feel anything with your instincts?”

“Not yet.”

They were compensating for their lack of detection abilities with the abilities of the different races.

‘Using the Beastman’s instincts. Clever.’

Utilizing what you are given.

They fulfilled that single phrase most faithfully.

Thump-thump!

“We’ve arrived at the general store… The door is locked. Milan?”

“Leave it to me.”

The Dwarf who gave a thumbs-up put down his spear, took out a lockpick from his pocket, and demonstrated his skillful handling.

“Isn’t picking locks usually left to rogues?”

“I may use a dagger, but I’m still from the Derth Mercenary Corps. I don’t know how to do things like this.”

The only human among Trophin’s party members answered my words while tossing and catching a dagger.

“You have to have someone in the corps who has picked a lock before to learn. Milan is the unusual one.”

“I suppose that’s true…”

“It seems one’s upbringing is more important than one’s profession.”

“It’s done.”

Finally, the Dwarf called Milan unlocked the lock and entered the general store.

As if they had never imagined that such a large county would fall, the items displayed for sale inside the shop were left untouched.

“I wonder if the shop owner is alive.”

“Probably dead. The monsters fell on the shelters too.”

“Then, shall we take the potions here as well?”

“Stop it.”

Trophin stopped his party members with a firm voice.

“Only take as much as you need. Our goal is the antidote, not potions.”

“...But Vice-Leader.”

“Huh?”

“That person is already taking them.”

Kali pointed at me, who was stuffing potions into my inventory.

I, who was opening my inventory, flinched and avoided Trophin’s gaze.

“Artier?”

“...Ahem. There will be battles on the way. Since we don’t have a medic, we need to stock up on potions.”

In a game, farming was a natural thing.

There were too many potions to give up for the sake of a mere conscience.

“That is true…”

Trophin was lost in thought for a moment, then sighed and picked up a potion.

“It’s shameless, but let’s just take a little.”

After each of us had stuffed a moderate amount of potions into our inventories, I looked at the back of the general store.

There was a back door that led to a warehouse, and when we opened it and went through, there was a warehouse building so large that it was hard to believe it belonged to an ordinary general store.

Swoosh!

Just as everyone was about to enter the warehouse, Simon raised his hand, bared his fangs, and growled.

“There’s something here.”

Hearing that, everyone immediately drew their weapons and scanned the surroundings.

BOOM!

[Wild Protection is applied.]

Wolf’s Blessing: Attack power increases by 10%.

As soon as the fiends appeared, I used only Wild Protection and beat them down.

“Why are they so weak?”

“This area is already fully occupied, so they probably weren’t strong ones.”

[The skill level of Wild Protection has risen to 3.]

[You can now choose the blessing to bestow, but its effect is reduced by 50%.]

‘Oh, nice.’

Finally, I could use the once-troublesome Wild Protection a bit more strategically.

“The feel of it is not great…”

Trophin spat on the ground and swung his greatsword.

“But Simon, didn’t you say there was nothing in this area?”

“I heard the fiend’s breath just once.”

“Its breath?”

“Yes. Right before they attacked, I heard a sound like them exhaling.”

At Simon’s words, Trophin stroked his chin.

“That’s strange. They don’t breathe.”

“They don’t breathe?”

“Yeah. We trapped them in a water tank in Dorman once. But they didn’t even act troubled.”

The fiends don’t breathe.

Learning this unexpected fact, my mind also became complicated.

“Maybe it wasn’t the sound of breathing.”

The sound of exhaling is ultimately the sound of air being expelled rapidly.

For beings that don’t breathe to have exhaled means they performed some other equivalent interaction.

‘That’s good information. I had no way of knowing such minor details about the setting when I was playing the game.’

“Anyway, it seems we’ve dealt with all the Hellmorphs, so let’s look for the antidote.”

Entering the warehouse, I walked through the shattered glass fragments and searched for the antidote.

But because the Hellmorphs had made a mess, there weren't many intact glass bottles.

“...Should we go to another general store?”

“There must be. There has to be.”

I said firmly.

‘If we stop by another general store here, it will be too late to rendezvous. We might not even make it to the east port.’

In fact, taking care of the injured was already a dangerous gamble.

To protect one person, two could die.

I knew it was a cruel thought, and I knew these people were precious to them, but that didn’t change reality.

“Collie, is there a way to search for a specific item with magic?”

“To search in that way, the appearance of the item must be different. Both the antidote and the healing potion use the same glass bottles, sir.”

“...That means you can distinguish the intact glass bottles, right?”

Collie and I used search magic to find the intact glass bottles and then took them out.

“I found it!”

A moment later, when Kali shouted, everyone flocked to that spot.

“How many are there?”

“There are three boxes with 30 bottles each, so this should be enough to treat most, if not all, of them.”

“That’s great. Let’s go back quickly!”

As Trophin’s party laughed and high-fived each other, I began to feel a strange sense of unease.

‘This is too easy.’

The level of the Hellmorphs that attacked was too low.

Would they so easily give up the means for a mercenary corps they had let go, knowing they couldn't get far, to recover?

Sure enough, a moment later, a chilling sound echoed in everyone’s ears.

Th-They’re here! The fiends are swarming in!

I didn’t know who had made the communication, but seeing Trophin’s expression immediately harden, I knew right away that it was a member of the Derth Mercenary Corps.

“Let’s go back now!”

“Vice-Leader!”

“What?”

“I feel them from all directions!”

“What did you say?!”

BOOM!

A nearby stone wall shattered into pieces.

From behind the wall, under the ground, and from the sky, the fiends appeared simultaneously.

As if the ones that had popped out of the warehouse earlier were just a distraction, the number of fiends appearing from the surroundings was too much for a single party to handle.

“This is a lost cause! Everyone, run!”

“Wild Protection!”

[Wild Protection is applied.]

Chosen Cheetah’s Blessing: Speed increases by 10%.

I cast the newly upgraded Wild Protection on everyone.

At that, everyone’s steps accelerated as if they had received Gerard’s Fair Wind.

Crack!

A wall collapsed, and a tall tower came crashing down.

The party fled for their lives.

How long did we run?

By the time Collie was panting and staggering and a metallic taste filled everyone’s mouths, the Hellmorphs suddenly faltered, stopped, and then turned and began to disappear.

“What is it?”

“Did they give up?”

“That can’t be…”

Everyone’s bodies were covered in minor wounds.

Surviving was a miracle, but if we had been chased for just a little longer, someone could have died or been injured.

“They must have achieved some objective.”

I scanned the surroundings and looked up at the sky.

Beyond the blackened clouds, the shape of a half-waning moon flickered and disappeared.

“...Trophin.”

A bad thought came to mind.

I didn’t want to open my mouth.

“Try to contact the Derth Mercenary Corps.”

“……”

Trophin’s expression was as hard as stone.

His trembling hand reached his earlobe.

Krom?

…….

Krom, answer me.

…….

Krom!

In the first place, everyone knew.

Simply not receiving a communication and not being able to receive it because you are dead.

Distinguishing between these two was as easy as telling a healthy apple from a rotten one.

Answer me, you bastard! Krom!

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