Ch.83Return to the Beginning (8)

After the adventurer returned alive, there were no significant incidents for several days.

The guard had redirected most of their forces to the south.

Since there weren’t any particularly hostile entities to the east, west, or north of the city, and there were palisades in place, a few sentries were sufficient for those areas.

Even if monsters appeared, they could simply defend with the palisade and sound the alarm.

Brasya had positioned the pigs in the southern forest and other locations that provided good cover.

The intelligent pigs would immediately alert them if anything approached from areas that couldn’t be seen from the palisades and watchtowers.

The pigs, which had previously been confined to their pens, had quickly developed muscles after being released into the wild.

Pigs aren’t naturally fat animals but rather muscular creatures with little body fat.

With several of them roaming in groups, most wild animals didn’t dare come near.

Mirella had prepared a large stockpile of Healing Potions in case of emergency.

These weren’t for sale to customers but were stored in the warehouse.

If fighting broke out, they would need plenty of Healing Potions.

And I had made several potions with functions other than healing.

If combat became unavoidable, we would need to use these.

Bellamy had issued an administrative order completely blocking access to the south.

She closed the gates and imprisoned anyone who disobeyed.

City development and other concerns weren’t important right now.

She couldn’t allow innocent people to walk to their deaths when it was obvious what had happened.

If only Alreina were here now.

The current Alreina might even be able to kill that mid-boss.

No… no.

That shouldn’t happen.

Alreina needs to follow her own path.

She needs to faithfully follow the original story according to the guide I wrote for her and find happiness at the end.

The current situation has nothing to do with the original story.

This is my problem to handle. Alreina shouldn’t come here.

Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!!

Just then, bells rang loudly from the southern watchtower.

Simultaneously came the urgent shouts of guards stationed at the palisade.

I kicked open the shop door and ran toward the southern gate.

“Jack! Over here!”

Adelheid Remugen, standing on the palisade right above the gate, waved at me.

As I climbed the stairs, she grabbed my arm and pointed beyond the palisade.

She was pointing to the road coming from the south.

Under the red sunset as the sun sank to the west.

I could see a person staggering toward us, casting a long shadow to the right.

Behind them was a long trail of something—could it be blood?

“It looks like a person. A survivor?”

“I’m not sure. Let’s be prepared.”

The guards loaded quarrels into their crossbows and lined up along the palisade.

We waited in tense silence until the figure came close enough.

When they approached within visual identification range, I grabbed Adelheid’s shoulder.

“Fire the crossbows!”

“Fire!”

Hearing my words, Adelheid gave the order without hesitation.

Quarrels were fired simultaneously from the palisade at the man.

Some missed, but others struck his body.

Surprisingly, the man only staggered briefly without falling.

A normal person would be immediately incapacitated by just one crossbow bolt.

Yet this man remained standing despite having quarrels deeply embedded in his chest and abdomen.

Of course. This was the mid-boss from the subway station.

“Keep firing! We absolutely can’t let him approach!”

“Reload!”

While they were reloading their crossbows, the creature continued walking past the quarrels stuck in the ground.

“Fire!”

The second volley was more accurate due to the shorter distance.

When dozens of quarrels hit him directly, he tilted backward as if about to fall.

“Whoa!” “What the hell is that guy?”

But he managed to regain his balance and continued walking toward us.

“Give me that! I’ll shoot!”

Unable to stand by, Miyumi snatched a crossbow and leaned her upper body on the palisade.

After careful aiming, she fired a quarrel that struck directly between his eyes.

“Wooooah!”

As his neck snapped back and he collapsed flat on the ground, the guards let out a collective cheer.

“Ha, that’s how it’s done.”

Miyumi turned to Adelheid with a smug expression.

Her face was like a puppy expecting praise.

But instead of complimenting Miyumi, Adelheid stared intently at the fallen figure.

Following Adelheid’s gaze, Miyumi looked back at him.

Then she shouted with her eyes nearly popping out:

“Reload! Reload!”

The creature, who had been lying with limbs splayed out, was slowly raising his upper body.

Thwack-thwack-thwack!!

A shower of quarrels rained down on him as he was halfway up.

After taking three volleys of fire, he now looked like a porcupine.

Yet despite being knocked down multiple times, he stubbornly managed to get back up.

“Captain. Fire arrows.”

Adelheid took out a bow and nocked a fire arrow herself.

Watching the creature approach, Adelheid shot the arrow at just the right moment, and it flew past him.

She hadn’t missed—she’d aimed that way deliberately.

The fire arrow stuck in the ground instantly spread a large fire widely to both sides.

They had prepared for this by pouring oil all over the road.

The creature, walking forward defenseless, was engulfed in flames.

After flailing his arms around, he finally collapsed on all fours.

Was it really over now? If only we could see his health bar.

But it wasn’t over.

With his entire body burning, he rose like a demon crawling out of hell.

“Jack. We need to use that.”

“Understood.”

I opened a box that had been placed on the palisade and distributed potion bottles to the guards.

The round glass bottles were filled with bright orange liquid.

“See that line marked over there? When he crosses it, Group 1 throws. When he crosses the next line, Group 2 throws.”

The guards took positions to throw the glass bottles.

When the creature crossed the first white line drawn on the ground, Group 1 threw their potion bottles.

The bottles flew in an arc, breaking on impact and causing explosions with loud booms.

The guards, experiencing the power for the first time, crouched behind the palisade railing.

This was essentially a type of grenade, where the liquid vaporizes with strong impact and so on and so forth.

It’s a very useful throwing weapon often used as a combat support item in the game.

“Aaaaah!”

Miyumi jumped and screamed when she saw the creature walking through the successive explosions.

“Group 2, throw!!”

Boom! Booom!

“Gasp…. What on earth is that…?”

The creature that emerged from the inferno was now almost naked.

His clothes had completely burned away, and his skin was melting.

Despite this, he continued walking toward the palisade.

“Is there any way to stop this thing?”

I shook my head at Adelheid’s question.

This mid-boss had very tricky attack patterns.

This wasn’t the time to think about how to stop him—we needed to find a way to evacuate the citizens quickly!

“Oh! Holy Knight!”

Just then, one of the guards shouted.

Looking down, I could see Liberone heading outside the palisade, dragging her greatsword.

“Liberone!”

“I’ll buy you some time.”

Liberone spoke quietly as holy flames ignited all over her body.

“Evacuate the civilians.”

“No! This isn’t an opponent you can handle!”

But Liberone charged toward the creature, gripping her greatsword that traced a magnificent arc.

Could Liberone win?

The creature had been trailing blood and had taken several critical hits, so his health must be quite low.

If things stayed as they were, Liberone might be able to win.

But if he used his skills, that would change everything.

Skills aren’t related to health.

As long as the cooldown is complete, they can be used, and this creature hadn’t used a single skill since appearing.

However, standing here and yelling at Liberone to come back would be a waste.

Liberone would definitely try to stop him, and if I moved with the guards, we could save at least one more person in the meantime.

“Captain. Pull back the guards. We’ll issue an evacuation order and get the citizens to safety in the north.”

“No, wait.”

But Adelheid stood in place, still staring at the burning creature.

Wondering what was happening, I looked and was amazed to see him raising both hands high.

At first, I thought he was about to use a skill.

But looking closely, that wasn’t a skill-casting motion.

It wasn’t an attack, but rather like…

“Is he trying to surrender?”

As unbelievable as it seemed, I had to agree with Adelheid’s assessment.

When Liberone appeared, the creature not only raised both hands but slowly knelt down.

“It really looks like he wants to surrender.”

Seeing this, Liberone swung her greatsword, creating a strong gust of wind.

In an instant, the fire on the creature’s body was extinguished, revealing his grotesque appearance.

His clothes and hair had burned away, and his skin was melting.

Looking up at Liberone standing before him, he opened his mouth.

“Save me…”