There is a self-deprecating saying among adventurers in Rigar:
“It’s not an adventure until something unexpected happens.”
Since the world and themselves often regard themselves as adventurers, the frequency of this accident is naturally quite high. But after this industry strips away the romanticism sung by bards and given by chroniclers, the bitter and somewhat embarrassing fact is that most adventurers don't actually want to take risks.
Most of the people engaged in the adventurer and mercenary industries are poor people - why do guilds use color-coded grading? And why even if there is a bulletin board to indicate the tasks, one or more guild receptionists have to explain them. The fundamental reason The reason is that most adventurers are actually illiterate.
Except for junior magicians who travel to gain experience, most adventurers will choose a more stable career if they are literate and have received basic education.
The reason why they take this kind of "adventure" is not "romantic", "having dreams", or eager to escape from the ordinary life as people with more stable lives think - it is simply because they have no choice.
The vast majority of adventurers can only stay at the lowest level throughout their lives, making a living by picking up leftover jobs from the army, such as rural security, cleaning up pests, bandits, caravans, and caravan escorts, and doing odd jobs to collect items in dangerous areas. The advantage of being listed in a guild is that you can enjoy benefits such as medical logistics support, stable task allocation, and second-hand market exchanges. However, the guild is not a charitable organization. Being charged nearly half of the remuneration will make most of them not only maintain equipment but also have food and accommodation. I can't save any money either.
For them, accident is not a good word, and adventure is not a good word - when you just plan to pick some herbs but encounter a group of bandits, even if you win the battle, the maintenance and medical expenses will often offset the loot. benefit. Since most bandits spend money when they have it, unlike businessmen who save money, most of the time a battle will leave the adventurer unable to make ends meet.
A mission failure, an illness, a serious injury, or damage to a favorite weapon or armor are enough to keep low-level adventurers forever, so they always try their best to avoid risks - but sadly, they are limited to their own abilities and knowledge. This struggle is often in vain.
——So, can high-level adventurers perfectly avoid risks and become adventurers who completely avoid "risks" worthy of their title?
Following our Mr. Sage and the Luoan girl along the way, the answer must have been very clear.
——They approached the group of Luoan militants from the Otolo Empire, but just when the warriors had clenched their weapons and prepared for battle, Lulu, who was exploring the way in front, raised her little hand to signal them to stop.
She turned back, with the index and middle fingers of her right hand raised, and the palm of her left hand facing down, then she poked her palm several times to express her urgency to "stop now."
Then he used his right hand to hold his left wrist several times, and then made a strangulation motion.
"Stop quickly, injury trap." - These sign languages were determined through communication during the trip and shared with all team members. Due to the difficult situation they will face in the future, Henry formulated it considering the need for silent communication. A lot of these details. Even though the warriors were a little unfamiliar at this time, they did not make any noise in the forest. This was all the result of the special training carried out by the sage early in the morning because of the sage's consideration.
Henry touched it. He was nearly two meters tall and carrying a big sword, but his movements were similar to those of a petite hunter girl. The sage approached the place where Lulu stopped. The dead leaves on the ground were well disguised, but there was still a fresh smell of broken plants in the air - presumably this was the reason why Lulu noticed something strange.
Human beings who grow up in civilized society always rely more on vision, but hunters who travel through mountains and forests all year round also attach great importance to the training of smell and hearing - because these senses, which are despised by most people, are more useful at this time.
Henry took out a knife and peeled off the dead leaves on the surface - underneath was a net woven with a few fresh twigs, and there was a small hole further down, about the thickness of a calf and half an arm deep.
"It looks like it was dug recently." They communicated in very low voices. After the sage peeled off the outer layer and let the light shine in, the people next to him could see at a glance how vicious the trap was.
——The inside of the trap, which is just about the thickness of an adult's calf, is inserted in circles with sharp branches, and the branches are arranged with the pointed ends pointing downward. A person who steps on it carelessly will slide down along the inclination of the branches and step on the bottom of the hole. The moment he instinctively and subconsciously pulls his feet upward, these downward-pointed branches will pierce into the flesh like barbs.
Narrow caves are not only more convenient to construct and easier to hide, but also because there is no space to transfer, it is also very difficult to get out once you are trapped in them. You can only have your partners slowly dig from the side to expand the cave and pull out the spikes one by one.
Not to mention the time and energy consumed by this process, those who were caught in the trap and seriously injured their calves would inevitably slow down the entire team, making them more vulnerable to ambushes.
"Subtle." Considering the Otolo background of these Roan people, the sage who had used similar methods to deal with the Otolo Empire Army during the Avnera Civil War couldn't help but look strange.
——They learned these things and even improved them.
When any weapon is used to deal with the enemy, be careful that it will become the opponent's strength - this kind of trap is not used by hunters. It is obviously a trap used to deal with humans, and tracing its origin is very likely to have been taught to the enemy by the sages themselves. The methods of the Avenella people.
Fortunately, although these Luoan people have such skills, they are still not authentic hunters. They do not understand the hidden information of smell. The trap materials they use are juicy green branches that have been cut casually, so the fresh and pungent smell is very obvious.
For laymen, it is difficult to distinguish under the cover of fallen leaves and the smell of earth, but for hunters, this smell is like a beacon.
"It doesn't seem like he was escaping at will." Henry narrowed his eyes. They originally thought that the other party's escape into the jungle was a panic move, but now they have found a trap that can prove that is not the case - although this kind of trap is more time-consuming to dig, It's short, but it can't be accomplished while being chased, and there must be more than one of them escaping in this direction.
But here comes the problem again. This group of Luoan militants are obviously not pretending to be ignorant of the jungle. The traps they set are obvious to hunters, but they may not be able to identify them themselves.
——In more popular terms, they may forget the location of the trap they set.
So how do you avoid stepping into the traps you have set?
The most straightforward answer is to leave a mark that only one of you can identify - and this is exactly what the girls Lulu and Luoan next to them are looking for, but they looked around and didn't see anything even disguised. visual mark.
Henry squinted his eyes slightly, then closed them completely. When he opened them again, his eyes were already emitting blue light.
"Tsk." He made a smacking sound, and then took out a few Druid rune stones from his pocket and handed them to the two girls in front of him.
"Lift it over." The sage said, and after the two people lifted it over, a dim circular mark suddenly appeared on the ground where the trap was. It disappeared immediately after the rune stone was taken back.
"..." Lulu stared at the thing in her hand in surprise, then clenched the rune stone tightly and looked at the sage - the latter nodded, indicating that she could stay. After that, the hunter girl was filled with joy. received it in his pocket.
"This is ouroboros?" Mira was a little confused after recognizing the sign.
"This group of people are Placia, and the situation is a little worse than I thought." After noticing the existence of magic, Henry used different methods to explore, and soon dug out the ground next to the trap. I found a small stone with some runes engraved on it, as well as dried blood - probably the magical blood of the magician, to provide short-term energy for these simple runes so that they would appear in the eyes of people with magical vision. Shows specific markings.
This method is more efficient than markings carved on tree trunks with a knife or placed with pebbles. It is usually invisible to people and is very convenient for their own people to avoid the traps set by themselves - after all, magic is not that common. thing.
"Placia, Placia." This word comes from Luoan language. Mira frowned and read it several times: "The sky at night before dawn?"
"In layman's terms, it can be called Ye Tian Hui." Henry shrugged.
"Is."
"The Luoan cult that believes in witches, I thought they had been eradicated by the druids long ago." He said this, and the Luoan girl looked at her teacher in shock after hearing this shocking information.
"I think we have found the culprit of the unrest in Crescent Continent, but more importantly, what are they doing in this barren forest." Henry's eyes glowed blue, and he noticed the mark set by the other party before evading it. It was easy for him to follow the trap, and now was not a good time to continue explaining. Knowing the makeup of this gang meant that they were up to something big - they had to get on their way.
The sage, whose eyes were glowing blue, easily detected and avoided seven or eight traps laid out along the way, and the group was able to continue approaching the escapees without slowing down. And when they walked through the dense forest and entered an area that was overgrown with weeds but still had a stony surface, the purpose of these Luoan people became obvious——
"It's an abandoned Inari Shrine." Narumi looked around vigilantly. There were no longer trees blocking the area. Although it was a good thing that the line of sight became wider, their whereabouts became easier for the other party to grasp. . Although he didn't understand those metaphysical and spiritual things, he knew the danger of being attacked by bows and arrows in this kind of terrain.
The torii gate, whose bright red paint has long been mottled and faded, has rotted away in the humid air. Even the ancient stone statue of a fox has become mottled and lost its texture due to wind and rain.
The thick sacred tree has died, and the black trunk has lost its past beautiful meaning and is more like the incarnation of some kind of terror.
The mottled stone steps were overgrown with weeds, and the fallen leaves on both sides covered the inside of the dry drainage channel with the autumn wind.
A shrine that no one has visited in countless years.
Now, in front of the two forces with less than 20 people, they feel as tense as tens of thousands of troops confronting each other.
There was no cover, so the moment they stepped onto the stone ground in front of the shrine, they were noticed by each other. Four white-haired Luoan people walked out of the temple hiding behind them. Without saying a word, they pulled out the Otolo standard long swords at their waists, and then dark runes appeared on their faces.
Even though they had the same appearance and characteristics, the Luoan girl still felt an immediate physical discomfort towards these same people.
She looked at their eyes, which had turned pitch black and the pupils and whites were blurred. For a moment, she felt as if she had been pulled into another world, out of place and with her internal organs turned upside down. This was not based on the relationship between people or even nations. The hatred between people and the nation is some kind of more ancient and profound instinct.
--Yes.
"Just like those ghouls." The young master next to him, who had also met monsters, came to a conclusion similar to hers.
This is a strange emotion mixed with disgust and fear, just like a mouse that instinctively trembles when seeing a cat and even forgets to run away. It's as if these people have transformed into something more powerful than humans and can even be called natural enemies. Although most people may not know their existence throughout their lives, the instinct engraved in their bones allows them to recognize these dangers.
——This is no longer a situation where communication can work. When seeing the faces of these people who have already thrown themselves into darkness, the last glimmer of hope in the heart of the Luoan girl has also died.
They disdain communication because in their eyes they may not be worthy of equal communication.
Have you ever seen a lion and a rabbit reasoning with each other? Have you ever seen a great empire listen to the demands of the other party when it destroys another country? Even if it does, it is just the strong one forcing its own domineering philosophy on the weak one when it is about to die.
"Qiang——" Henry lowered his head to Claymore.
All they have left with these people is fighting.
"Distribute to both sides, draw your bows, and cover Sir and the others. There are only four people on the other side, but don't be careless." Narumi gave the order to the samurai. Although their side had a slight advantage in numbers, he still felt uneasy like It is as difficult to dissipate as the clouds on a rainy night.
"Tsk--" The runes on Henry's body lit up through his skin, and Mira noticed this--her teacher planned to use all his strength from the beginning. She swallowed, "The teacher is the most careless enemy." Can you handle it?' - But then he put the thought out of his mind.
"Ha." The dark-eyed Luoan swordsman noticed the magic power fluctuations emanating from the sage, but sneered at it.
"Druid, Siludo is flattering (the false believer)." One of them muttered, and then raised the heel of his right foot.
"Get ready to shoot!" Narumi noticed that this was a slight movement to prepare for a sprint, and gave the order, while the Luoan girl was vigilant about the distance that was still seven or eight meters away - thinking about which angle the opponent would attack from, she He took a defensive stance in the middle - but the next second.
The man disappeared from view.
"Bang!" There was a crackle in the air like fireworks exploding, followed by a collision of sparks. The surprisingly fast swordsman Luo An rushed straight towards her, but when he swung his long sword down, But he was blocked by Henry in an instant.
'Unable to react' was already beyond the strength of a human swordsman. Even Joshua next to him had no time to draw his sword. Mira was stunned.
"Tsk——" The other party made a smacking sound, but when he wanted to pull the sword back, he found that the blade was stuck.
"..." Kramer's unparalleled sword cut into his hand like an ax cutting wood under the high-speed and powerful collision between the two sides. Henry just twisted it with one hand. , he couldn't take back the sword.
"Qiang——" After being stunned for a moment, the sage turned the edge of the sword, pulled back to disarm the long sword in his hand, and then cut off the Platinum swordsman's right arm with a backhand, followed by a kick. Kicked him away and then slashed him in the middle.
"laugh--!!"
Black bodily fluids mixed with blood evaporated into steam under Claymer's sword edge, and the Platinum swordsman with only half of his body fell to the ground, looking in shock at his wounds that could not begin to heal.
As if being corroded by sulfuric acid, even the pain that should have been blocked returned, causing the Luoan who was the first to rush forward to scream, struggle and roll on the ground, and finally twist and die.
"..." Their expressions finally changed.
"Ah? What's the matter, never seen it before?" Henry shrugged and shook off the residue on Claymore, then raised his blue eyes to look at the other person.
"This is called Kramer."
"Even you can be cut in half with one sword."
"So who is the next person who thinks he can do it and wants to try his luck?"
