LV999 Villager - Volume 3 - Chapter 11.27

Chapter 11, Part 27

An Endless Journey

At that moment, the Hooded Man, as if he had noticed something, began to move away from the members of Resistance. Balmung, in an attempt to understand the reason for his actions, began to look in the direction of the place where the Hooded Man retired. Immediately afterward, Balmung’s face paled.

「—!? Everyone, withdraw! Flee to Noah right now!」

In the direction Balmung had looked in, he could see the Beast’s Fangs•Kemono Kiba-zoku•, who had finally managed to escape of the trap set by Resistance, and now was running towards them, with eyes full of hatred and murderous intent.

「Hurry…… Fighting them right now, after almost everyone has lost their magic guns, is nothing more than suicide! Run!…… Run with all your might! Run if you want to live! 」

Immediately after hearing those words, all the rearguard members hiding under the bridge began to run back to Noah. The rest began to run after them.

「「「WaaoouuuuuUUUUUUUUUUUUH!」」」

Immediately after the members of Resistance began to flee, the Beast’s Fangs•Kemono Kiba-zoku• also began to run after them as they let out hate-filled howls that simply helped to increase the fear that everyone felt. However, before they could reach them, Takako and the other members of the vanguard slowed down their pace to position themselves behind the rearguard members, in order to repel the attack of the Beast’s Fangs•Kemono Kiba-zoku• and give the others more time to escape.

「Menou-chan, take Tina-chan to safety! The rest support the others as they escape!」

After nodding at Takako’s words, everyone, with their weapons already prepared, approached Balmung in order to receive his instructions more easily. Menou on the other hand, said, [Come on, Tina-dono! Please hold on to me!], as he grabbed Tina and started running behind the rearguard members who had escaped earlier.

「I’m sorry…… but thanks you anyway! Yuki! Take Mary and regroup with the ones who already escaped!」

「Understood! Everyone…… come back safely!」

Balmung finally calmed down after seeing Yuki and Mary step forward to catch up with the other rearguard members as Takako and the others caught up with him.

Then they all turned their gaze to the Beast’s Fangs•Kemono Kiba-zoku• chasing them.

「So what are we going to-…… what the hell!? They are too fast, at this rate they will reach us immediately」

「I already know it! All the vanguard units, prepare to repel the attack of the Beast’s Fangs•Kemono Kiba-zoku• as soon as they reach us! Those who can use magic use it to slow down our pursuers!」

The Beast’s Fangs•Kemono Kiba-zoku• who generally could show impressive capabilities even on difficult terrain now ran across an uneven terrain, and were thus able to run at a speed comparable to that of a level 100 Warrior, even after having exhausted much of their strength to escape the trap into which they had fallen into the river.

Anyone who was careless for an instant would end up being killed by them. Palna, who understood that, in an attempt to stop them even a little, tried to use thunder magic at them to protect herself while escaping, but—

「Tsk…! It doesn’t work at all!」

The Beast’s Fangs•Kemono Kiba-zoku• continued to chase after them without even slowing down in the least while ignoring the magic of Palna.

「That won’t work unless you use some powerful magic! Even the traps we set up after 10 of our mages joined forces can only stop them at most!…… So you have to attack them non-stop if you want to achieve something! 」

「I can’t aim well while running!」

[Palna-chan! I’ll take you, so just focus on your magic!」

Takako said as she took Palna and carried her on her shoulder. Palna couldn’t help but blush slightly embarrassed due to the embarrassing posture that she dangled from Takako’s shoulder as she held onto her butt, however, it didn’t take long for her to come to her senses and focus on concentrating her magical power in her hands.

Palna began to accumulate a large amount of concentrated magic power, which was clearly enough to finish off her opponent. Balmung, who understood that, said, 「Come on……!」 With eyes full of expectation.

However, the moment Palna was about to cast her magic against the Beast’s Fangs•Kemono Kiba-zoku•, something strange happened.

The Hooded Man, who should have been in the Beast’s Fangs•Kemono Kiba-zoku• side, began to bring down the Beast’s Fangs•Kemono Kiba-zoku• who were persecuting members of Resistance.

The actions of the Hooded Man, who wasn’t executing the Beast’s Fangs•Kemono Kiba-zoku• but simply knocking them to the ground, seemed to be saying to these, 『Don’t chase them』.

「Damn you…… Ace! What the hell do you want to do now!?」

Balmung said as he watched what was happening.

After hearing that, Palna scattered the magical power she had gathered and looked at Balmung with a look that seemed to be saying, 「Has this…… happened before?」.

「Yes, it feels like he is playing with us. Suddenly, he just appears out of nowhere and gets in our way, and then it just lets us go like nothing. He clearly enjoy this whole situation. It doesn’t matter when we strive, he doesn’t even see us as a worthy target to kill……」

「But, ​​no one has died, right?…… Isn’t this a good thing?」

「And what about all our companions who died on our way to this place? What about the tools we left behind while we fled……? Damn, we can’t afford to lose all those valuable items…… We didn’t even make up for our losses!」

After hearing the words of Balmung, who clearly couldn’t bear the actions of the Hooded Man, Takako, who until then had simply been thinking about what he had said, frowned and asked.

「…… You said that the Ace doesn’t get along with others Beast’s Fangs•Kemono Kiba-zoku•. Is because……」

「It is just as you imagine it. It is all due to his way of acting」

Even now, the Beast’s Fangs•Kemono Kiba-zoku• who had been desperately trying to reach them to kill them could only look with caution at the Hooded Man, who was standing between them and the members of Resistance escaping.

That was no different for the rest. Although they were already certain of the identity of the Hooded Man, his enigmatic actions didn’t allow them to understand what his intentions were.

Finally, thanks to the intervention of the Hooded Man, everyone managed to get far enough away from the Beast’s Fangs•Kemono Kiba-zoku• so as to lose them, then, after reorganizing with the other members of Resistance, whose morale was at a loss due to the failed operation, everyone began to move organizedly towards Noah while they deal with the Monsters they who ran into on their way.

「Kagami-san…… You really are something……」

Krull muttered with a small smile on her face.

What are we supposed to do now? It’s what she wanted to ask Kagami, the Hooded Man, however, there was nothing she could do but bow her head dejectedly before the fact that that didn’t seem to be possible at the moment.