NOVEL NEXT Chapter 116 - A Planned Attack?
Along the way, he killed a few more spiders but mostly evaded them to avoid wasting time. Just as he had expected, he saw his father, Sir Baldwin, and the house knights engaged in killing more spiders.
However, these spiders were as large as elephants, with multiple gleaming red eyes and thick black armored carapaces. Instead of striking with their legs, these variants spit acidic webs from their mouths at their enemies.
Alaric's danger sense warned him of an imminent attack, and he quickly side-stepped, narrowly dodging an acidic web. The ground where it splattered sizzled with smoke before melting.
Ooh, nasty creatures. Alaric dodged a few more acidic webs before unleashing a mana blast at the monster. The swirling ball of mana hit the carapace of the monster and completely engulfed it, incinerating it on the spot.
Oops! Alaric mentally reprimanded himself for unleashing so much power. He prayed nobody had witnessed his previous attack.
The aftermath of his attack was a grotesque painting of spider remains on the ground. These spider variants were Tier 3 monsters, but they failed to stand up under the combined assault of his father and the house knights.
For the first time, he witnessed his father battle monsters seriously. A large thundercloud crackled overhead, unleashing flashes of devastating lightning every few seconds.
The count simply stayed rooted in his spot. But every strike of his lightning burnt a spider to a crisp, instantly killing it. The house knights had set up a perimeter around his father, solely focused on defending him from any monster that dared approach him.
Sir Baldwin wielded his sword with an uncanny expertise, slicing sections of these Tier 3 spiders with ease. Every few moments, the Knight captain's sword instantly lengthened as he swung his sword, the strike killing multiple spiders at once.
Alaric noticed a group of people huddled together in panic inside a structure with metallic walls. It was smaller in scale than the earthen dome created on the other side of the battlefield. It also lacked a roof, but the structure was sufficient to protect the civilians and kids who took shelter.
The outside walls were stained with acidic spider webs, but they failed to cause harm to the people. Sir Baldwin reshaped the metallic sections weakened by the acidic webs before the acid could eat through them.
"Alaric, come over here," ordered his father, gesturing to him to come to their group once he noticed him. Alaric obliged and quickly joined his father, evading the monsters that attempted to block his path.
He had done his share of work, and all the civilians were protected. Now, he could leave the rest to the adults.
Off to the side, he detected the hired muscles standing guard around the two Church officials with the mysterious trunk. Both the officials tightly clutched the mysterious trunk, reciting something that felt akin to a prayer.
Their faces blanched with fear, but it looked as if they were more concerned about keeping the trunk safe rather than dying in the monster attack.
It seemed that the hired guards were solely focused on keeping the Church officials safe. They hadn't allowed a single person into their sphere of protection. That instantly soured Alaric's mood, but he controlled his frustration. It wasn't the moment to think about their selfishness.
Glancing around, he couldn't spot the two powerful adventurers anywhere. Weren't they supposed to protect the Church officials, too?
"I know what you are thinking," said Sir Baldwin, slicing a spider cleanly in half while noticing Alaric's gaze. "Those guards simply stood there protecting those two blasted Church officials. They haven't lifted a finger to help anybody else."
"Did you notice any powerful adventurers among their group?" replied Alaric.
"Yes, I noticed two powerful Tier 4s earlier," said Sir Baldwin. "But they had left as soon as the chaos broke out, probably to battle the monsters."
That relieved Alaric a little. If the two Tier 4s were helping as well, it was only a matter of time before the monster wave was handled.
No, this wasn't a random monster wave; it was a deliberately planned attack. He mentally corrected himself. But for what reason? There was no other justification for the smoke bombs and the sleeping gas.
By now, the battle was almost over. Dead spider corpses littered the plain, and the sound of cultivators clashing against the monsters had quieted down a lot.
However, oddly enough, he still spotted a crowd of spiders waiting patiently behind the trees at the edge of the forest. Whatever battle frenzy drove these monsters had now vanished. In fact, the monsters began retreating back into the forest after a while.
It seems the worst of it is over. Alaric released a sigh. Looks like I'm going to be late for the entrance exams. He chuckled.
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Suddenly, the hairs on his neck stood up, and his danger sense screamed alarm bells. His father and Sir Baldwin instantly became more alert and a moment later, the ground erupted into a shower of mud and stone as a huge centipede monster, the size of the train, emerged from underneath.
For the first time, a sliver of concern crossed his features. A suffocating aura blanketed the whole region. The deathly aura unleashed by the centipede was sickening. That's a Tier 4 monster.
The huge centipede monster had obsidian black armor that felt stronger than steel. It gleamed with a crimson shimmer that radiated danger.
However, what surprised Alaric even more was the state of the monster. The giant centipede's armor was cracked and punctured in many sections, oozing viscous purple fluid. It appeared that the centipede had been engaged in a battle earlier.
It thrashed in the air, unleashing arcs of red energy that etched deep grooves in the ground. The Count, Alaric, and Sir Baldwin raised mana shields, protecting the civilians from the red energy arcs and debris.
Each arc of red that clashed against the mana shield drained huge amounts of mana to maintain it. The centipede twisted its body and turned direction, heading in the other direction.
Shit! If that centipede crashes into the earthen fortress, Alaric's thought was interrupted as the huge centipede was slammed to the ground. Thick, thorny vines crept up its body and dug into its armor with ease, splattering purple fluid everywhere.
"Come on, Diana, don't torture it any longer," Alaric heard a familiar voice from behind him. It was the Tier 4 adventurer who had caught Alaric utilizing his true vision earlier.
Only now, he was clad in high-quality black armor with the crest of a blazing sun on the chest piece. A woman with the same armor and crest walked by his side, her hand raised slightly.
"Shut up! I'm trying to do this delicately and save the monster core, unlike you," replied the lady adventurer with irritation. "You already wasted three monster cores today."
The man scratched his head, releasing an embarrassed chuckle. The lady delicately closed her fist, and the thorny vines constricted around the giant centipede, squeezing the life out of the monster as it crumbled into a ball, unable to do anything else.
Now, what the hell is happening here? Alaric had imagined these two adventurers to be strong, but not this much. The lady had just killed a Tier 4 monster as if it were nothing.
No more monsters were left alive in their vicinity. It seemed the giant centipede was the group leader of this small monster horde.
"Members of the Golden Crest Guild," said the Knight Captain in awe, indicating the two adventurers. "What are such people doing here?" Alaric's eyes traced the adventures as they rejoined the Church group.
"Is it a powerful guild?" asked Alaric. It seemed the Church officials were shouting at the adventurers while the hired guards created some space for them, wary of getting caught between their conflict.
"Powerful? They are at the apex of all the A-ranked guilds in the capital city," replied his father gruffly. "But members of the Golden Crest guild don't do menial tasks. For them to be involved in this mess..."
Alaric gestured at the mysterious trunk and voiced his concern regarding the dark energy that surrounded it. He also shared his earlier encounter with the man. Before the count could reply, a shriek reached their ears.
It seemed that Church officials were incensed by the way they were stomping their feet in disdain. "How could you leave us in such danger, especially with this?" one of them said angrily, gesturing at the trunk.
"Yes, we could've been dead," joined in the other church official.
"Stop nagging," said the man, chuckling as usual. "We were keeping an eye on you. If somebody had attempted to harm you, we would've caught them. Besides, civilians were at risk, and we couldn't just stand by and watch."
"How dare you argue with us?" replied the Church official. "And take this so lightly. I will file an official complaint against you guys.
"It seems you have formed a wrong impression of us," said the lady adventurer with a melodious laugh that didn't reach her eyes. "Our job is not to protect you guys, it is to secure the trunk."
Then she simply glared at the priests, daring them to argue. But the priests broke out in cold sweat, unable to answer back.
Sir Baldwin chuckled after witnessing the encounter. Alaric didn't really know what to think. Now that the danger was over, everybody came out of the makeshift shelter, tending to their wounds.
The train was a complete wreck, unfit for travel any longer. After some enquiry, his father informed Alaric that help was on the way and they would still be able to reach the capital within the day.
That relieved Alaric. He didn't want to face another monster wave or enemies at the moment, with so many people around. When the attack happened, Alaric had assumed that the witches had finally discovered him.
However, he had detected no signs of any witches among the enemies. And witches liked to maintain secrecy. They wouldn't have been so bold to attack so many civilians in public, especially with so many powerful cultivators present. No, this was something else.
He hadn't detected any enemy cultivators amid the chaos. Neither did his father, nor any knights of their squad. That meant that the enemies were very well-versed in stealth.
Additionally, the fact that the enemies were able to rally so many monsters meant they had skilled monster tamers among their group.
This whole thing was meticulously planned - everything from the smoke bombs, sleeping gas, the location, and more. Members of their groups had already infiltrated the train beforehand, disguised as civilians.
It was definitely not the job of an ordinary bandit group. Wild rumors began circulating among the people. Some speculated that it was a terrorist activity, while others shifted the blame to unorthodox cultivators or political rivals.
Suddenly, Alaric remembered one more thing. The prisoner. Where is he? He couldn't detect any signs of the man who was confined by the law enforcement officials, even when he scoured the vicinity with his true vision.
Had the prisoner escaped in the chaos? Something didn't sit right with him. All the law enforcement officials were busy helping the wounded and with other activities, but none of them looked concerned about the escaped prisoner.
Are they keeping him somewhere else? Alaric couldn't just ask them about this subject and expect to receive an answer.
He pulled on his father's arm, sharing the information about the prisoner. His father nodded before approaching the law enforcement officials. After a while, the count came back with a grim expression.
It seemed that none of the law enforcement officials had acknowledged the presence of the prisoner, let alone his escape. And they behaved far too nonchalantly to be pretending.
"Alaric, are you sure you had observed a prisoner with them?" asked the count seriously.
"Yes, of course I did," said Alaric with confidence. His eyes hadn't deceived him earlier. Somehow, the prisoner had escaped, and none of the officials had a clue? Could that even be possible?