Chapter 42 - Recalculating Route After Deviation
At first, I was tucked under her side like a siege stone.
Now, being held in her arms like a princess, moving at a very fast speed, I felt like I was going to lose consciousness.
“Oh my, Ark-nim. You mustn’t lose your grip on reality? You need to firmly protect the virginity this concubine will take?”
“Ugh, be quiet–”
If only Elise didn’t keep making strange comments in between.
I probably would have fainted by now.
“Do you have a habit of talking to yourself? A man who nurtures a small friend in his heart. That’s charming in its own way.”
“…”
Unfortunately or fortunately, it seems Elise’s voice can’t be heard by anyone other than our hero party members.
“Oh my, Ark-nim. Did you have such a preference? This concubine can be your conversation partner.”
Be quiet.
It’s because of you.
As I was being kidnapped like that for a while.
“It should be safe now. Walk from here.”
Without warning, Renatel threw me in the air.
Then caught me and planted me vertically.
I braced for the impact on my lower body.
But I landed more lightly than expected, feeling a bit embarrassed.
“Um, do we really have to land like this–”
“It’s my preference. I’ve wanted to try it once.”
If you say so.
She’s not in her right mind either.
…Are all the heroes not in their right mind?
Afterwards, as we walked calmly through the forest thick with giant trees.
“Where are we going now?”
I asked one of the top 3 questions that a kidnapped person must ask.
“To the revolutionary army, Darang-dae’s base.”
Renatel answered calmly.
At that moment.
The quest line for the Great Forest region, which had been forgotten in my mind for a while, came back to me somewhat.
The Great Forest.
A vast forest area densely overgrown around the World Tree that emits auspicious energy.
Around the World Tree are the long-eared, long-living old fogeys.
And on the outskirts is the living ground where various types of beast-kin live together. preferences were truly diverse.
And there were as many diverse types of beast-kin.
Among them, there were three tribes of enormous scale.
The Cat tribe, Wolf tribe, and Dog tribe.
Of course, considering the scale of beast-kin inhabiting the entire continent, the Dog tribe undoubtedly occupied the largest number.
The Dog tribe originally had ancestors who trusted humans, got mated with, but couldn’t lose their affection for humans even after that.
Therefore, rather than staying in the Great Forest.
They could be said to be a tribe that constantly wanders around the human world, panting and barking while looking for their master.
Naturally, the hegemony competition in the Great Forest was narrowed down to a bilateral confrontation between the Cat tribe and the Wolf tribe.
The Great Forest inside the tower is also modeled after reality.
It might even be intermingled with reality itself.
As Neb, the Demon of Sloth from the Cat tribe, was selected as the boss of the 20th floor of the Tower of Wishes, the Cat tribe rose as the mainstream force.
“It’s nonsense. Those cat bitches being the leaders? And to borrow the power of demons, they should be ashamed.”
Renatel growled, baring her sharp fangs.
“So our Darang-dae is struggling to enlighten the traitorous Cat tribe and our tribesmen who have become their lackeys, to return the Great Forest entirely to the hands of the beast-kin.”
A radical struggle group, named.
Make the Wolf Tribe Great Again! Darang-dae!
I had the very sensible question of how it’s shortened to Darang-dae, shouldn’t it be Darang-wi, but.
■■-wi feels a bit political, and ■■-dae feels like armed struggle, so I could fully understand that sentiment.
“But what does that have to do with kidnapping me?”
At my question, Renatel’s ears perked up, her head tilted, and her nose sniffed.
“Aren’t you a revelator? If the revelator sides with them, we lose our justification.”
It seems quite a high-level political design is involved.
I had no intention of siding with them though…
Taking advantage of the moment when Darang-dae’s commander-in-chief Commander Darang Renatel was expounding her ideology.
I inadvertently looked into the revelation tablet as it sparkled.
Inside was.
A game screen I hadn’t seen in a very long time.
The journey of our five heroes was unfolding, depicted in the form of a game.
Seeing it like this is a bit nostalgic, makes me miss them, and feels fresh, but.
You guys.
What on earth are you doing right now…?
About 10 minutes after Ark’s kidnapping incident.
The heroes were advancing straight through the jungle, ignoring the perfectly fine road.
At the forefront was.
“Sniff sniff, Master’s scent has stopped woof!”
The possessor of superhuman, super-canine absolute sense of smell.
The loyal dog who runs to the guild house, dropping everything, the moment Ark starts grilling meat on the grill, no matter how far away.
It was Lumi.
Although it wasn’t particularly prepared for times like this.
Starting from the scent of the hood Ark was wearing, to his underwear smell, body odor, and even further to the unique night flower scent he emits after grunting and growling alone.
Nothing could escape Lumi’s nose.
Feeling somewhat relieved by the fact that there was no smell of grunting and growling or barking and growling kyaooo yet.
Lumi and the heroes ran.
Of course, they weren’t following the official path.
It was closer to pioneering their own path as they advanced.
Although the path was quite rough.
“Please step aside.”
If there’s no path?
Just make one.
Saha put all her strength into her hammer, turning the huge rock blocking the way into powder in one hit.
The fact that the view wasn’t properly secured due to the dense forest path unique to the Great Forest was also.
“Over there! I can see a huge city over there!”
No matter if she’s 4-star, a hero is still a hero.
Moreover, the level trained by experience potion abuse never lies.
Ari instantly climbed up a giant tree, observed with the archer’s unique view, then came down and reported.
If the heroes’ legs grew weak, or if they got even a minor scratch in the process of pioneering the path.
“Ark… no, blessings.”
The walking HP potion saint immediately cast recovery and blessings.
It was a perfectly honed teamwork after climbing up to the 15th floor.
Of course.
“Huff, huff, huuuff…”
The little one who lost her exclusive mount was busy following, stretching her tiny legs to their limit.
And finally, the first enemies they encountered.
“Stop! This is the path to the Wolf tribe’s sacred site. We cannot allow outsiders to enter!”
It was good that they ran in a straight line, but.
Unfortunately, on the path from where the hero party first arrived to where Ark was kidnapped, there was the Wolf tribe’s sacred site, ‘Little Red Riding Hood’s Cottage’.
Naturally, the security was strict to the extreme!
But.
“Do I look like I care?”
Lumi imitated Ark’s manner of speaking.
The corners of the heroes’ mouths behind her filled with smiles at the synchronization rate.
At the provocation of the Dog tribe, who love to mingle with humans, freely using a manner of speech that pisses them off as soon as they hear it, despite being intruders.
“Grrrr, I can’t stand it!”
“Repel the intruders!”
The Wolf tribe soldiers all drew their swords at once.
Battle start.
“Aren’t you ashamed as fellow beast-kin, bringing in outsiders!”
“Do I look like I care woof?”
Lumi, who had left the Great Forest at a very young age due to some incident and wandered the human world.
She didn’t care about beast-kin pride or anything, and with the feeling of “Give Ark back bark bark”, she planted her elbow in the Wolf tribe soldier’s solar plexus.
“Guh–”
Just as she was about to finish with her claws as usual.
She hesitated.
Complete the mission without harming the beast-kin. (In progress)
Realizing there was a restriction preventing her from delivering the final blow.
“Kyang!”
She controlled her strength to just knock them out without killing, hitting them on the head.
After neatly dealing with one, Lumi looked around to find the next target.
“Haaah!”
Saha, passionately shaking her breasts that drew water drop-like curves that even Lumi would want to touch.
In contrast, she carefully controlled the strength going into her hammer, swinging it just enough to make them fly and faint when hit.
“Cough, hack…! What is this…!”
Ari’s arrows had bags of red pepper powder attached instead of arrowheads.
Pop!
The Wolf tribe soldiers who were hit kept coughing.
“Eek, that oppa is mine!”
“How dare you target my sworn brother!”
Tinya’s charm, which had become much more potent thanks to equipping her exclusive equipment!
It was paralyzing the minds of two Wolf tribe soldiers, causing internal strife.
“Kyaang!”
“Kyong!”
Seizing that gap, Lumi jumped in and planted Lumi Secret Technique Hand Strikes on their heads in a friendly manner.
“Lumi woof, good!”
“Tinya nya, woof!”
The Ark-official Lu-nya combination exchanged thumbs up and bonded even in this situation.
As the Wolf tribe soldiers weren’t as strong as expected, even Yohena rolled up her sleeves and stepped forward.
“Repent. Repent. Repent.”
She even grabbed one unfortunate young sheep, no, wolf, and kept smashing the bible on its head, making it repent (physically).
Although she tried to act as calm as possible.
It was because something indescribable was boiling up inside Yohena too.
After quickly dealing with the soldiers guarding the path like that.
Complete the mission without harming the beast-kin. (In progress)
The heroes became confident that they could be judged as “not harming” the beast-kin as long as they didn’t kill them.
Still, since bloodshed had already occurred.
While Lumi was searching for Ark’s scent again among the bloodstains left by the Wolf tribe soldiers with nosebleeds.
“We should take what we can, right?”
“That’s what the master would have done.”
“Mmm, Ark would certainly have done that.”
Ari approached the tied-up Wolf tribe soldiers with sparkling eyes.
The Wolf tribe soldiers flinched, filled with an extremely ominous feeling, but they were tied up so tightly they couldn’t move an inch.
“Kyahyang…!”
“Just kill us instead! You barbaric outsiders! Kyang!”
After lightly subduing the resisting Wolf tribe soldiers.
Ari gently cut off the Wolf tribe soldiers’ tail fur with her hunting dagger and collected it.
The spirit of creative economy, obtaining spoils without killing!
If Ark had seen this, he would surely have smiled contentedly.
Ari sniffed.
“Bark! Master’s scent is moving woof!”
“I’ve got everything! Lumi, let’s go!”
The hero party hurried on their way again.