Chapter 43 Out Of Danger?
Several hours later.
Huff, huff!
The sun was beginning to set and visibility had begun to decrease. Running through the jungle drenched in sweat, a man, a bison, and two women were gasping for air while dragging another unconscious man on a stretcher.
It was naturally Ikaris, Malia, and Ellie. The wheezing noises were mostly coming from Ikaris and his bison friend.
Not even thirty minutes after leaving Karragin, they had been caught by the Crawlers and the hunt had begun. Ellie had never been much of a sportswoman and had not exactly eaten her fill in the last few days, so she quickly became a burden.
In the end, it was decided that Ikaris would carry her on his back while Malia would take his place to hold the stretcher with the buffalo.
The teenager was almost five times stronger than before and close to 18 times tougher, but it soon became clear that this would not be enough. As soon as the Crawlers saw them, their presence was reported to the rest of the hive and tens of thousands of monsters began to hound them relentlessly.
Even Crawlings born only a few hours ago were as fast as cats and as hardy as wolves. It was almost impossible to outrun them on foot with normal running.
To survive until now, Ikaris, Malia and the buffalo had to mobilize every fiber of their being. Their running pace exceeded that of a human athlete's dash, and they each had to keep up with a load to carry over rough terrain littered with overgrown brambles and vegetation.
The trio was completely spent. But it was Ikaris who was the most exhausted.
Because in addition to running, carrying Ellie and focusing on the obstacles in front of him, he also had to diligently maintain his Stealth spell. The passive was not nearly enough to fool the Glenring supervising the hunt.
Stopping near a stream to fill their skins, Ikaris asked in a breathless voice,
"How many more kilometers?"
"We're almost out of the Barren Bush. Ballabyne should be right over that hill if Grallu's directions are correct." Malia replied, wiping the sweat from her forehead.
Her breathing could be judged as calm compared to the boy's, but her irises gave off a bright yellow-orange sheen, indicating that she was resorting to her racial abilities to conserve her strength.
"I mean to reach the kingdom of Hadrakin?" He clarified with a deep frown.
The Vampire-Kitsune didn't understand the relevance of his question but she answered anyway,
"Probably another 20 kilometers or so."
"Let's keep running then, but let's stop at Ballabyne to check their situation and get supplies. They do accept Hadrakin currency, right?
"They do." Malia nodded.
The teenager took a deep breath, then he said, his breathing a little less ragged,
" Let's get moving again. "
Ellie made a desperate face, but Ikaris and Malia formally ignored her. He put her on his back, Malia and the bison lifted the stretcher with Toby on it and they set off again.
Swish!
Suddenly, several creatures dropped on them, jumping from tree branches several meters above them. Ikaris, who could sense the Crawlings' presence, drew Krold's sword and slashed upward, slicing the monster that targeted him in half.
Malia held the stretcher with one hand and with a backhanded slap sent a second Crawler crashing into the stream. The last one was gored viciously by the bison as it felt it land on its head.
"MOOOO!"
"Yeah yeah, we noticed..." Malia growled as she began to run twice as fast.
To keep up with her, the Demonic Beast was also pressured to gallop, but as they spared a glance behind them they spotted dozens of monsters rushing towards them at a blistering speed. Among them were at least three Crawlings of 10 years or older.
These three creatures were as large as Tibetan mastiffs and even faster and more flexible than cheetahs. Their group was overtaken by the three monsters in an instant.
As he had done several times during the day, Ikaris gritted his teeth and activated his See-through vision as well as Heart-Puncturing. One of the monsters suddenly crashed and fell to the ground dead.
"MOOOO!"
Seeing one of the Crawlers try to bite him in the testicles, the bison went ballistic and kicked fiercely, smashing his hooves deep into the creature's face. The creature shot off the ground and slammed heavily into a tree.
Not to be outdone, Malia waved her knife-shaped hand and a blade of red light split the air, crossing the distance between her and the third monster in a flash and bisecting it instantly.
Ikaris saw blood dripping from her hand, but he remained silent. It made Ellie feel awfully powerless as she watched them fight in her stead.
She couldn't even run with her own legs, merely being a cumbersome burden. Compared to the boy who was carrying her, she was really too incompetent.
Two other Crawlings, about 18-19 years old and the size of a small horse, loomed up noiselessly right behind them, and within three strides the two monsters closed the distance. They were so swift that they were seemingly elusive and Ikaris thought he saw a halo of dark steam oozing from their skin.
"Shit! Those two aren't normal." He shouted to warn his comrades but it was already too late.
Wanting to be helpful, Ellie activated Black Veil, the only spell she knew, on the two monsters but her eyes rolled back and she fainted on the spot.
Ikaris cursed his bad luck, because he too could sense through his Appraisal skill passive that his magic would not work on these two Crawlings. Or at least, what little stamina he had left would be completely sapped, possibly resulting in his falling into a coma or even death.
"MOOOO!"
The Alpha Bison casually dropped the stretcher and heinously charged the two monsters. He activated the same ability he had used against Malia and his speed multiplied, giving the impression that he had teleported ten meters in one go.
The targeted Crawler had its head bashed in, its head slamming into its rib cage. The second beast changed its trajectory and threw itself at the buffalo. A lightning claw lacerated deep into the bovine's flesh, but before the animal could claw its way onto its back, a rock banged hard against the cartilage on its forehead.
Spinning its head around reflexively, the monster saw Ikaris standing in a post-launch pitcher's stance. Before giving it time to compose itself, the youngster immediately picked up a second stone and hurled it at its eyes as well.
The monster dodged effortlessly, but in the meantime it had forgotten about the bison. Out of the corner of its eye, the Crawling had just enough time to catch a glimpse of the enraged Demonic Beast rearing up before it was trampled savagely.
"MOOOO!"
In berserk mode, the bison frantically stomped on the monster that had injured it until even the cartilage plates on its skull and back had been reduced to powder.
"We're out of time." Ikaris shouted to remind the bovine.
"Moooo..."
The buffalo mooed reluctantly but went back to lifting his side of the stretcher and the group started running again. A few seconds later they finished climbing the hill and the Ballabyne tribe, or rather what was left of it, was revealed before them.
The wooden palisades about three meters high had been flattened, as had most of the tents and huts in the settlement. There were corpses and blood everywhere, but unlike Karragin and the surrounding tribes, Ballabyne had not been completely overrun.
The town had managed to repel the legions of Crawling scouts from last night, but almost 90% of its population had been wiped out. More importantly, upon arriving Ikaris immediately realized that not everyone was from the same tribe.
It seemed that everyone had come up with the same idea to survive. All the survivors from the neighboring tribes had rushed here with what little food and possessions they could carry. Ikaris and Ellie were shocked to find not only humans here, but also goblins, kobolds and other less common humanoid creatures.
In the end, there were several dozen thousand survivors.
They also saw a few knights in armor bearing the crest of the Hadrakin kingdom, an eagle with wings spread wide holding a sickle between its talons. Most of these men were muscular with a sharp, stubborn look in their eyes. Every twitch of their muscles hinted at their power and their weapons and armor were of excellent craftsmanship.
The surrounding tribesmen seemed to have great respect for them. Especially the gray-haired man with the thick beard who watched over the southern jungle with his long red cloak flapping in the wind. When Ikaris and his group stepped out of the jungle, his piercing gaze immediately locked onto them.
"Body Sorcerers." Malia whispered in a low voice to Ikaris and Ellie, avoiding eye contact with them. "They are also called Body Warriors, Body Soldiers, or Knight-Sorcerers depending on the country. They are the most common type of Sorcerer in the Forsaken Lands. With magic, they constantly push their physical limits until they become indestructible."