Even if they aimed for that place and moved toward it, there was no guarantee they would arrive.
Just looking at their current position made that clear.
Hadn’t they worked hard to advance toward the Demonic Realm’s border, only to end up even farther away instead?
With that in mind, Reysir concluded that mindlessly moving along whatever path was available would also be a bad move.
Going too deep into the mountains could mean running into a Boss Monster.
Reysir didn’t want to go on some adventure fighting a Boss Monster while protecting a sleeping companion.
“Should I just go back to the starting point..?”
This time too, Jormungand gave no answer to Reysir’s question.
Because he knew that no matter which direction they headed, the same situation would unfold. Not just the number of monsters swarming them.
Perhaps even the timing of the professors’ arrival would all be decided by the Original Author’s typing.
“Let’s go back. After all, the Professors will enter the Demonic Realm through the mountain entrance too, right? It’d be better to be physically close to that place. The path we originally took is blocked by thorn bushes now, but with Master Dyuf’s ability to handle plants, it should be possible for him to move them out of the way.”
After much deliberation, Reysir made this decision, and Jormungand let out a “Meow!” and nodded.
No objection was raised, so Reysir decided to act immediately.
First, to carry Karbaldr, he temporarily put his spear into his Inventory, then wrapped the sleeping man’s arms around his own neck.
‘I was worried I’d have to ask Yor to tie Kar’s arms in place to hold him…’
As this internal monologue showed, Reysir had no intention whatsoever of detaching Karbaldr from his body until they were rescued.
Even if a battle broke out due to monsters appearing.
No, that was exactly when—
He felt he could only relax a little if Karbaldr was in his arms.
Because if he got distracted by the fight, another monster could appear and attack Karbaldr, who would be completely defenseless.
Anyway, Reysir managed to keep that request he’d thought of from leaving his lips.
Because Karbaldr, half-asleep, hugged his neck and hung on by himself.
If the person involved knew about this, he’d probably be torn between feeling relieved or awkward about it.
But for now, Reysir was satisfied.
He supported the back of Karbaldr’s thighs with his left arm, lifted him up, and then took the spear back out of his Inventory.
Then he twirled it around in his right hand.
This was to check if he could fight in this state.
Since one arm was essentially sealed off, it was naturally impossible to use his full power, but it wasn’t like he couldn’t fight at all.
“Yor. I need to feed your master a lot of things. How can he be this light when he’s taller than I am?”
“Meow meow, mraow, mrmrow, mya mya mat, nya nya nya ng, mraow meow, kyaaow—!”
Jormungand protested with a look of grievance.
His master already considered a full stomach inconvenient because it made him sluggish and unfocused.
What’s more, Karbaldr’s body was naturally lean and didn’t gain weight easily.
So the best he could do was watch over him to make sure he ate three proper meals a day and give him snacks in between, which he was already doing.
But it was useless because his training meant his activity level was too high.
“…Honestly, I can’t understand a single thing you’re saying. But I’m sorry. You must have been doing your best to protect your master’s health. It must have been hard seeing that it wasn’t working, and you must have been worried.”
“Ooooow!”
“Yeah, yeah. Right, right. When we get out of here, let’s work together to fatten up Karbaldr.”
“Meow!”
Jormungand gave a thumbs up and gladly accepted Reysir’s proposal, and with that, the conversation stopped completely.
Because if the sounds of monsters were drowned out by their voices, their reaction time could be delayed.
As if they had made a pact, Reysir and Jormungand both kept their mouths tightly shut, scouted their surroundings, and retraced their steps back.
– slither-slither, slither-slither, slither-slither, slither-slither.
– rustle-rustle, rustle-rustle, rustle-rustle.
It hadn’t been long since they resumed moving.
Yet, a very loud noise came, so loud they couldn’t have missed it even if they had been talking.
This definitely wasn’t just one or two monsters.
‘Why now of all times…’
Reysir swallowed a sigh and gripped his spear shaft tightly.
Then he condensed a large amount of Lightning Attribute Aether at the tip of his spear.
He didn’t know how many more battles he’d have to fight before being rescued, so he wanted to fight efficiently while conserving Aether as much as possible.
‘But if there are many enemies, it’s better to reduce their numbers before the real fight begins.’
This was especially true now, when he had to fight while protecting a disabled friend.
Besides, monsters called ‘Sid Bloom’ didn’t die even when cut by the spear blade, so the only way to finish them off was to sear them with the power of lightning.
So, the moment the group of about fifteen monsters revealed themselves,
Reysir shot the golden Aether he had gathered at the spear’s tip into the sky.
The mass of energy slipped right into one of the clouds floating above, then split into five branches and fell to the ground.
– rumble! Boom, crash! Rumble, crash-boom!
All five of the targeted monsters were hit and stopped moving, charred black.
But when Reysir shot the Aether up again and dropped a single bolt of lightning, not one monster remained still to take the hit.
The ten monsters moved their stalks and leaves to scatter in a flash, and they were so fast.
Reysir realized that the first lightning strike had been a perfect success only because the monsters hadn’t been prepared for it.
So, even if he dropped another thunderbolt right now, that attack would be futile.
‘Still, taking out five monsters before the fight even starts is something, right?’
But that wasn’t all the good news.
The fact that the grouped monsters had scattered was also a good thing.
It only meant he barely avoided the worst-case scenario, but Reysir decided to be grateful even for that.
‘The enemies can attack from a distance, so if I take a passive stance and focus only on defense, I’ll just get exhausted and collapse. So I have to counter-attack aggressively and reduce the number of monsters one by one!’
For this reason, Reysir firmly grasped the leg of Karbaldr, whom he was carrying, and held him close.
Then he charged toward the nearest monster.
– slash, slash, shing!
As if it knew it was the target, the monster swung five stalks wildly to block Reysir’s approach.
It was as if five whips were being swung at the same time.
It was extremely threatening, but it lacked precision.
Some of the stalks moved in the same motion, and occasionally, they even hit other stalks.
He wondered if, when the remaining monsters swung their stalks simultaneously, they would just get tangled up.
Perhaps the monsters were also aware of this problem.
Instead of swinging their stalks, the rest fired seeds.
“Kyaowowng!”
Jormungand tried to draw aggro by shooting Aether arrows, but sadly, there was no result.
All of the enemy’s attacks were aimed at Reysir.
No, to be precise, at the being he held in his arms.
He had to dodge the attacks from five stalks while dealing with the [Seed Bombs] fired in rapid succession by multiple monsters.
Reysir was completely overwhelmed.
Each time he knocked away a [Seed Bomb] with his spear, the damage accumulated in his body, so he tried to avoid them as much as possible, but that wasn’t easy.
‘I hope Kar doesn’t take any damage…’
Just then, something grabbed Reysir’s ankle.
He nearly fell because of it, but he barely managed to regain his balance.
He quickly swung his spear, managing to knock away the seed he had originally intended to dodge.
– Bang!
The explosive force transmitted through his spear finally tore the skin on his palm, drawing blood.
The shock traveled up his wrist and forearm, making his shoulder go numb.
But instead of letting go of his spear, Reysir gripped it even tighter and swung it.
To cut off whatever had grabbed his ankle.
He had to dodge attacks flying at him every moment, so he didn’t even have time to look closely at what it was.
At first, he thought it was one of the stalks of the monster he had targeted. Or a plant that had grown from the [Sprout] skill.
But when the same thing happened several times, he realized his guess was wrong.
It was the roots of the other monsters.
They had burrowed underground, then popped out and grabbed his ankle.
The moment he realized this, Reysir felt a chill.
‘What if I had gone to the place I thought of earlier and laid Kar down behind me to fight…!’
He was glad he had chosen to endure the discomfort and fight while carrying Karbaldr.
With that relief, Reysir cut off the monster root that had grabbed his ankle again.
He pushed forward and thrust his spear into the center of a grotesque red flower.
Then he released his lightning.
– Crackle-zzzzzt!!
As he confirmed the monster’s death and tried to pull out his spear, his hand slipped.
Because of the blood seeping from his torn palm.
Reysir let go of his spear for a moment, stepped back to dodge incoming seed bombs, roughly wiped his palm on his clothes, then grabbed and pulled his spear out again.
He had no time to stop the bleeding right now, so he immediately ran toward the next target.
He had just killed another monster, but the interference was still intense.
“Yaaoooowng!!”
As if telling them not to ignore him, Jormungand let out a huge roar.
He hadn’t used [Cat’s Vigor (=Dragon Fear)], so the monsters weren’t stunned.
Instead, a wedge about three or four times the thickness of the spear held by Reysir dropped down.
Made of Aether, it pierced the monster’s body and stuck deep into the ground, remaining there without disappearing.
Although the monster wasn’t dead, it was pinned in place.
Reysir wasn’t foolish enough to miss such an opportunity.
Without delay, he shot the Lightning Aether high into the sky.
The next moment, a thunderbolt struck the monster struggling while impaled on the wedge, and it was completely still, charred and withered.
Only then did the sky-blue wedge disappear, and the monsters could no longer ignore Jormungand’s existence.
Rey and Yor just make an alliance